Wonderful days: The Forgotten Fifth God
by Shawanad
Summary: 24 years have passed inside 'The Universe of The Four Gods'. But whatever happened to the fifth god? Cold and death overcome the lands. Two new Priestesses will defeat the fifth, forgotten God. The one you never knew. NurixOC ChichirixOC CHAPTER 13 up!
1. A First Prelude

**A/N**: This is an AU story. I do not own Fushigi Yuugi.

Purple hair wisped back in the wind as a young man made his way through the winter market. It had been unusually cold through out Konan for the last few weeks. It was only in the month of October, yet snow fell almost every other day, keeping a constant glazed look in the city of Eiyou.

As people jostled by in huddled robes, hoping to make a few last buys before dark, the man put his hand to his chest, glad that he had placed his money pouch inside his own robe. His pouch had been stolen more than once during this unusual winter weather, because many people were desperate for money to buy warm food and clothing, as well as new shoes.

He reached up and slapped his cheeks lightly to get the blood flowing as he reached his destination. This drew the attention of a few men leaving the little tavern the man had stopped in front of. He drew the attention not because of hand movements, but because he happened to be a very beautiful person, easily mistaken for a woman. His indigo hair chopped close to his shoulders, but in a way it looked like flowing waves of cloth, which only accentuated the cupids bow shaped lips, and slanted features. He had large, peach colored eyes as well, but the most womanly feature about him was the distinct beauty mark below his left eye. This drew much unneeded attention from men, as well as the women, which he wished it wouldn't.

He sighed and walked into the tavern, attempting to ignore the men as they whistled at him in an awful way. He walked to the counter and tapped the surface impatiently, waiting for the bartender to turn to him after finishing with another person's drink. "One of my usual, Katsuo-san." The very old man behind the counter smiled and nodded, going to prepare the drink that the man always had when he was there, which was quite often.

He was told that the drink was called the Nuriko special, for the Legendary Seishi called Nuriko had been the man who had designed the drink. It was a very powerful mixture, and could only be drunk by those who were very strong because of the impact. He had learned this the first time he had come to the tavern.

_Three Years, eight months, and seven days before._

_Nuriko, being a very young man at the time, made his first visit to a tavern in Eiyou, the capital Konan. He was only seventeen years of age. He shyly walked to the bar and asked the man for the names of some popular liquor for young people. He chose three names at random and asked the elderly man to put them all together in one glass. _

_The man looked at him like he was crazy, but when Nuriko placed a rather large sum of gold coins on the table, he sighed and went to work with the drink, taking only moments before he set it on the counter in a large glass. Nuriko picked it up and brought it to his lips, downing it in two gulps. _

_This was of course a bad idea, and before he had time to grab anything he fell from the bar stool from the impact. His head was pounding, and he was having a bad coughing fit because of the burning feeling in his throat. He stood and stumbled back onto the bar stool, while holding his aching head._

"_You're quite a strange person." The old man said as he walked around the edge of the counter and started wiping the counter with a rag near Nuriko._

"_Huh?" Nuriko replied half-heartedly as he slumped forward, his forehead in his hands as he leaned against the newly cleaned counter; he looked at the old man out of the corner of his eyes, wondering what the man had meant._

"_You're quite a strange young man, is what I meant." The man settled down on the bar stool beside Nuriko and offered him a small cup of herbal tea to soothe the aching in Nuriko's brain. "I've only ever had one patron who has asked for that mixture, and he looked very similar to you." _

_Nuriko immediately thought of his father, though they didn't look much alike, but then the elderly man went on. "It was about... Oh I'd say twenty-four years ago or such as that. This man called himself Nuriko, of the Suzaku Seishi, and he ordered that same drink. He called it the 'Nuriko Special'. He's dead now. They had a funeral for him the sometime after the current Emperor's father's funeral. He served the Priestess of Suzaku most courageously until he was killed."_

_Nuriko had sat up by now, and he watched the man with wide eyes as he spoke. The man introduced himself as Katsuo, and then went back to the other side of the counter, before asking Nuriko's name. _

"_Ryuuen. Ryuuen Chao." He paused and then leaned forward pushing his glass forward. "My other name, however, is Nuriko. My parents named me two names. And now I know my namesake. I thank you Katsuo-san." With that he got up from the stool and left the tavern as the old man behind the counter stared after him with the same wide eyes Nuriko himself had possessed only moments before. _

Nuriko thought back on that day as he downed his regular drink and sighed cheerfully. Ever since that day three years before, he had been more confident about his future. Though sometimes while he sat here in this same tavern, drinking the Nuriko Special, he found himself wishing he had a beautiful Priestess to protect from harm, and even fall in love with if Suzaku bid it. And of course, he had the dream every man had at one time in his life. Nuriko wished to be a hero that all children looked up to, and hoped that they too could someday be like.

He also often thought about that man twenty some years ago, who had looked just like him. How could it be that he looked just like his namesake? That almost never happened in real life, you only heard about it in stories. And now like many other times, he thought perhaps he might go see the Lady Houki, the wife to the previous Emperor, and the mother of the current Emperor. It was important that he go to see her soon anyway, to petition for more food supply for the army. He had joined the army last year hoping to serve out at least one part of his dream. He thought of this as he walked back through the market, towards his home, as snowy drifts came with the cold wind.

**In Tokyo, Japan.**

Eyes the color of freshly cut grass glistened and sparkled happily in the early afternoon light. There was a book sale at the Tokyo National Public Library, everything they were selling was a guaranteed good buy. The woman who walked into the library out of the light was almost gleaming she seemed so bright to the others around her.

Shawana shook back a long wave a dark red hair, which fell to just below her waist, and immediately started plowing through all of the wonderfully dusty and old books. She had always been one for reading. A true lover of literature some had called her before in America.

As she worked up a stack of books to buy with her monthly allowance(for she didn't control her own money; her best friend/roommate controlled the money comings and goings in their home, to make sure neither of them blew their money on useless stuff) she seemed called to the oldest and dustiest books, which were piled on the end of the table. She picked up a few more books, and then a gleam caught her eye.

There was a title on it in Chinese, which she had a little bit of trouble making out, but eventually read the title successfully(thank goodness for that, because she'd just finished three different college classes for Ancient Chinese and Japanese). "'_The Universe of the Four Gods'" _She murmured to herself, turning it over, wondering what had made it catch her eye. Nothing on it was gleaming, and that was for sure. It seemed to be one of the oldest books there from what she could tell. She quickly added it to her large pile of books and then hauled the pile to the counter at which an elderly lady stood with another person buying books.

"I'd like to buy these, ma'am." She said as the previous client left with a couple of newer looking books, and the elderly lady had to blink a few times at the large amount of books. She immediately pulled out a box from under the table and placed the books inside.

"That'll be 9,000 yen please." The woman said almost reluctantly, but Shawana quickly pulled her wallet from her large purse, and drew a few bills from it, setting them down in front of the woman, before she picked up the box and turned to walk towards the doors. "Have a good day miss!" The woman called after, just so that Shawana caught it as she left the building

"These people are crazy. They're actually selling these lovely works for such a cheap price." Shawana shook her head as she climbed into the car she shared with her roommate, and put the key in the ignition, driving through the afternoon traffic back to her apartment.

There was a dull thud as she dropped the box of books on the kitchen counter of the apartment, and a clang as she deposited the car keys into a small platter beside the phone. There were so many new books to read, she just reached into the box and picked one up at random.

She went and sat on the sofa in the living room, set '_The Universe of the Four Gods_' on her laps before she opened it. The pages were like antiques themselves, almost tearing at a particularly harsh movement of them. She started reading the rows and rows of Ancient Chinese characters that made up the first page of the book. Slowly but surely she made it through the first page, and turned to the next just as she heard the front door opening. "Welcome ba—"

All of the sudden her voice was gone, red light engulfed her in a mere second, and she felt a distinct falling motion. The light seemed to be getting darker. Nope. It was just herself that was reacting to panic. The last thing Shawana saw before she blacked out was the light clearing and the top of someone's head before she blacked out completely.

**Back in Konan. **

Nuriko had just emerged from the marketplace and was making his way towards the palace, though he still had a while to walk. He reached up and brushed some snow from his hair as he walked on down the almost deserted-because it was already past six in the evening, and the light of the day was fading- road. He almost didn't notice the bright red light flashing through the air for a second, because his hand was passing in front of his eyes as he brought it down.

As the last bit of the light faded, he barely had time to react before he heard the whooshing sound of something falling. He looked up just in time to throw his arms out and brace himself as a woman fell on top of him, knocking them both to the snow covered pavement.

"Oi! What the heck!" Nuriko groaned and spluttered after the breath came back into his lungs, moving the woman's elbow from his gut, where it had knocked the air out of him. "What's you do that f-—" He stopped in mid sentence, realizing that she was out cold, and wearing very open clothing. She was going to freeze to death if she didn't wake up. "Sheesh, this is just my luck." He murmured as he kneeled beside her, and snuck his arms beneath her, lifting her easily from the ground.

He stood back up, pulling the woman close to his body so she would keep a bit warmer, and turned back the way he had been walking from. He'd have to put off his trip to see the former Empress until tomorrow. "I guess I'd best get you somewhere warm.." He muttered to the lifeless woman, just now realizing the red hair spilling across his arms in a wave. She was a fairly attractive woman, though he'd seen many people much more beautiful than her, and she most definitely did not have the nicest figure. Much curvier than the women around Konan these days, and she probably weighed at least five kilograms more than most of the women those days… He drew his attention back to the road as he jogged with her in his arms toward thenice little place he had been staying in these last few days.

The elderly couple who ran the Inn hardly looked up from their chores as Nuriko walked in and up the stairs, entering his room quickly and closing the door with his foot as he rushed to place the woman on his bed. Turning quickly, the fact that he had let the fire burn out this morning rushed into his head. "Damn." He knelt in front of where the fire had been that morning, and placed a new log inside, before lighting it and turning back to the woman.

The blanket draped across the end of the bed was fairly thick, it would help with warmth, so he grabbed it and laid it across her, before pulling her awkward shoes off. He'd never seen shoes like that.. They seemed like leather, but they were green, and stretched up to her mid-calve with ties up both sides. Hmm.. That was odd.

"Mmnn." He looked at the woman and noticed that she seemed to be waking. She turned her head, grimacing, and reached up underneath the blanket to bring her(larger than most women's) hand to her forehead, splaying her long fingers across her face. She turned her head again, this time to the other side and her eyes fluttered open partially, looking around the room uncertainly. Her gaze wandered along the wall, past the fireplace, past Nuriko, to the end of the bed, then stopped, widened, and turned back to Nuriko.

He knew what was about to happen just as she let out a shriek and practically jumped up into sitting position. "Who're you!?" She clutched the blanket up close to her, and then realized she was on a bed and threw the blanket at Nuriko and scrambled off the bed, running unsteadily to the door, before turning on him and scowling. "What do you want with me?"

Nuriko hastily folded the blanket, trying to look as meek as possible, so he didn't make her any more freaked out. Besides, she was speaking in an odd language.. He had no idea what she was saying. "My name is Ryuuen," He started slowly, just in case she couldn't comprehend it. She nodded so he would go on, but let her hand stay on the door handle. "but you may call me Nuriko. Who are you, and where are you from? Can you understand me?" He nodded to her slowly and picked up her shoes, setting them a bit closer to her.

"Yes I can understand you." She spoke the language he was speaking almost as well as the one she had spoken in before, just a bit slower, as if unsure if she could trust him. "My name is Shawana, and the last time I checked I was living in Tokyo, Japan.." She grabbed her shoes quickly and pulled them on one handed, still holding onto the door handle.

Shawana.. That was a fairly nice name, though it was a foreign one, he could tell. Maybe she was from one of the other provinces…" Toh-ke-yo…" He murmured, unsure of the name. He'd never heard of such a place. "I've never heard of Toh-ke-yo.. We're in Eiyou, Konan currently." He looked at her closely as she finished pulling on her shoes and stood straight once again, shaking her hair back so it was behind her shoulder.

Shawana just stared at him, into his eyes for several moments, and he stayed silent. All of the sudden, a few moments later, she turned her head to the door and her eyes narrowed. "Serap! This isn't funny. If you want me to go on a date, at least make it a realistic one!"

Nuriko had no idea who or what she was talking to, but Shawana had let go of the door handle and started looking around, walking slowly toward Nuriko. "My best friend hired you to go on a date with me right? Serap?" She looked at him with innocent eyes, which he had just realized were a brilliant green color.

"Wha..?" He blinked at her then looked around. "Who? I have no idea what you're talking about.. Maybe we should go to a doctor?" He fiddled with the tie of his outside robe and tightened it as he slowly went around Shawana and walked to the door.

Shawana must have realized he was being honest, because all of the sudden she had an annoyed-confused look about her, and she reached to pull her-..could you call that a shirt?- down over her hips. The meager piece of clothing obviously wasn't much more than under clothing, it only had two thin straps at the top of the bodice.

"I want to know where I am and how I can get back, now. And what the heck is going on as well." She looked at him silently and crossed her arms, probably trying to be courageous.

"Well," Nuriko started, looking around and walking to his sack of clothing, where he had an extra robe and sash, which he scooped up. "First of all, I was walking down the road, minding my own business, and suddenly a woman with red hair fell on top of me from the midst of a red light. Now if you insist I can take you to someone who could possibly know where Tokyo is, and how you can get there, but first I suggest you put these on and get some rest, it's winter here, you know."

He handed the clothing to her and then turned to the fire pulling his outside robe off, and leaving him in just his at home robe and favorite blue trousers. "Where does he live?" He turned to Shawana and smiled slightly, seeing her in his own robe, with the sash tied in a bow at her side

"_She_ lives in the Palace. It's not far from here. I can take you tomorrow morning." He nodded in the direction of the palace, then motioned for her to take the bed, as he pulled an extra futon from the small cupboard in the corner of the inn room.

She first looked uncertain about sleeping in the bed, then a bit embarrassed about taking it from him. He could tell by the red that appeared in her cheeks and the way she looked at the futon he was laying out. "The Palace?"

Nuriko nodded and laid out on the futon, crossing his arms beneath his head and turning his eyes to her as she climbed into the bed slowly, curling up into a ball on her side. "Yes, the Palace. She happens to be Emperor Boushin's mother. The widow of Emperor Hotohori. May I ask you something?"

Shawana looked over at him, and nodded slowly, but surely. "What age are you? I'm only twenty, myself." Nuriko had been wondering for a while now, so he though he should ask.

Her gaze was drawn to his, and she stayed silent for a moment. "I'm going to be twenty in March."

So she was almost as old as him. That made the fact that she was staying in his room a bit easier. If she was a minor, then he could be arrested if word got out, or kicked out of the army.

"Goodnight." Nuriko murmured to her after a long silence, though he soon realized she was already asleep. Probably tired out from that falling earlier and being freaked out just now.:"

**A/N:** Thanks for reading the new and improved first chapter! Hopefully the rest will be updated soon!


	2. The Second Prelude

**A/N: **Chapter two is here! I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I do own several of the characters! My cousin – Cyan Azzura Ri, owns Seraphina.

Seraphina walked up to the door of her apartment, which she was sharing with best friend Shawana. They'd both come from America a few years ago. Shawana's parents had died in a car crash a few years before, as well as Seraphina's father and siblings. Both of them had lost their entire family on that day, so they'd been living together ever since. They'd done their last years in high school here in Japan, and now they were both taking college courses as well.

Seraphina's mother had been Japanese so she'd learned the language when she was young, and Shawana had learned when they moved here. Now, Seraphina was going to be turning 21 soon, and it had been a long time since they'd been to America. Speaking of 21.. Her birthday was coming up in a couple of months.. In December "Hmm." She murmured as she unlocked the apartment door and switched her grocery bag from one arm to the other so she could close the door and lock it again after she entered. As she walked in she heard Shaw start to welcome her back, but then get cut off. "I'm back!" She answered, setting the grocery bag on the counter.

Walking to the living room, she noticed the large box of books near her grocery bag. Looked like Shaw had gone shopping again.

She walked into the living room and immediately spotted the old book sitting on the floor like it had been dropped. "Shawa! You know better than to drop things everywhere!" She looked towards the door to Shawana's bedroom, but it was standing wide open and the light was off. It didn't seem like Shaw was even here, except that she'd heard her just a minute or so before..

"Shawana! Are you here?" She called down the hall, before turning to look around the main house area. "SHA-WAH-NUH! – YOU – HERE?" Her hands balled into fists and she sat with a quick motion on the floor beside the book, picking it up and flipping through. "I lost your place in this book!" She called, in hopes of getting Shawa to come out of hiding.. It didn't work.

The book was pretty old, and it was in an old language which she couldn't quite understand, though she got the gist of something about some gods or other.. She turned the first page and hardly had time to blink before she suddenly couldn't see anything. Silver light flooded in all around her, glinting almost pale blue in how bright it was. She whipped her head around, looking to her side as she had the sudden sensation of falling. The floor of her apartment was no longer underneath her. She couldn't see anything, so she closed her eyes hoping she had fallen asleep and was dreaming.

Falling was the only thing she knew was true as she reopened her eyes, and suddenly it was green all around and she was about to make contact with earth.

**In Sairo **

Tatara dozed peacefully in the cool air of the forest. It was getting unnaturally cool these days, Sairou being a perpetually warm province. It was getting colder by the day, so this was probably one of the last days of nice weather for the area. Tatara was taking advantage of the large trunk of an oak tree, leaned against the hard bark, which he could feel a gentle warmth coming from. The tree was not yet dead from the cold, which it probably would be in a month's time or less. That made him sad, though he knew it would be alive again once the weather warmed up in the next year. It was like his past. He had been Tatara of the Byakko Seishi in his past life, but had died shortly after he helped the Suzaku no Miko and reunited with his lovely Suzuno, the Byakko no Miko. He had been reborn here in this land that same year, as had Suzuno, though he had no idea where she might be. Searching for her since he remembered his past had been what was taking up most of his life the past few years. Though he was just glad that Suzuno would finally be able to live a life with him in it.

He turned his head slightly as he heard a whooshing sound coming from above, and opened his eyes as a bright light flashed through the air, and he heard a loud thump come from a few yards into the trees to his right. He sat up; reluctant to leave the warmth of the oak tree, then brushed his hair back and tied it behind his head with a simple vine as he stood. "I wonder what that was.." He stretched his arms behind his head and yawned slightly, walking through the trees in the direction of where the thump noise had come from.

He walked into a clearing with a light lair of yellowing grass across the ground. A girl lay on the ground holding her head and groaning. The pinkish hued red hair that fell across her right eye, and down to her shoulder blades in the back was what first caught his attention about her appearance. Not many people were graced with that beautiful color these days, though in the past there had been a few around the Hokkan cities.

She also was pale and had a slight figure, like was popular among the women these days. She sat up just as he walked into the clearing. "Miss, are you well?" He walked towards her and offered his hand for her to get up just as she looked towards him in alarm. Then she saw that he was offering his hand, and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

"I'm not sure.." She reached up, placing her palm to her temple and rubbing gently as if she had a headache. She down, then around and saw their surroundings, causing her look about confusedly for a moment. Tatara wondered how one would not know if they were all right or not..

"Wait.. Who're you?" She looked at him with large, amber colored eyes, using her small hand to push her hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ears. "And where is this? Why am I _not_ in my apartment? Where's the book!?" She looked down to the ground her fingers scrunching up like they were remembering holding something. "And where's Shawana?"

Tatara stared at her for a moment, blinking in confusion over what she was asking him. "You sure ask a lot of questions. Though I'll try my best to answer them." He let his hands rest at is sides as he leaned against a tree just outside the clearing. "First of all, my name is Kasara Tsunonie, but I use the name Tatara most times. You are currently lingering in a forest, outside the capital of Sairou. I have no idea what a 'part mint' is, so I do not believe I can answer that question for you. And I would like to ask you what 'the book' and 'Shawana' are, seeing as I have no understanding of what you are questioning _me_ about. I would also like to know your name, seeing as you now know mine."

The girl's eyes widened a bit, as she stared in confusion as he spoke. She obviously had no common knowledge or something, if she didn't understand what he was saying. Just as he was about to repeat what he'd spoken, she crossed her arms under her chest, looking at him suspiciously for a moment, as if she couldn't trust him. "My name is Seraphina. Seraphina Carradine. But you can call me Serap if you'd like, Tatara. And, I've never heard of a place called Sairou. Is it in Japan, or perhaps the mainland, or Korea?"

Tatara was now the one staring in confusion as she spoke to him about places he'd never heard of. "Japan? Korea? The mainland—What? No Sairou is not in one of those places. I've never even heard of them." Serap's look of disbelief was there for a moment until she realized he had a very truthful tone and look. She was good at reading character, and this man seemed to be telling the truth.

"Okay, now I get it. I really am dreaming! Just like I thought with that silver light.." Before Tatara could do anything she had reached over and pinched her arm, probably as hard as she could. And just as he expected she let out a yelp at the pain. "Ouch! Okay.. Maybe I'm not dreaming." She rubbed her arm, which was turning red in the small area of skin where she'd pinched, and looked at him again. "Japan is where I'm from. I live there with my best friend, Shawana Chao – and I'm still wondering where she is – And no it's not 'part mint' it's 'an apartment'. A small home in a large building with several other apartments just like it, in which other people live. I have no idea what the book is.. I found it and started reading it in the living room. That's the last thing I remember really, other than falling through silver light.." She frowned slightly and looked around, perhaps looking to see if her friend had also experienced the falling through silver light though she had been hiding somewhere? "Then I appeared here, and had a terrible landing."

Tatara frowned just as she had as she rubbed her shoulder, and flinched. She was probably bruising from landing on the ground almost headfirst. He nodded slowly, remembering another explanation of bright light from a long time ago. She had almost confirmed his suspicions already. "Can you tell me exactly what happened after you turned the first page?" He asked her tilting his head slightly as she looked at him, startled, by her expression.

She bit her lip slightly and looked up, then looked back to him. "There was a really bright silver-blue light. It seemed like the light swallowed me, and then I felt like I was falling."

His suspicions were indeed confirmed, as he had thought before. He nodded pulled off his extra, thin robe, which he had worn just in case it got fairly cold that night and he stayed out for a long time. "Are you hungry, Serap? I know a wonderful place I can take you to that has the most marvelous food." He smiled at her as she nodded quickly and grabbed the robe hastily from his hand and threw it on.

He pulled aside a branch for her and motioned to the path, which would take them back into the capital. She nodded in thanks and passed by him, waiting a few steps beyond for him to lead the way. He was only wondering how he would explain about the Byakko no Miko, and how he would tell her that she was mot likely that same person.

They walked through the thick forest as the air became chilly and soon found themselves at the outskirts of a large city. Serap could hardly hold in the fact that she thought it was the coolest thing. She even called it a quaint little city compared to Tokyo. Wherever that is..

**A/N: **Thanks for reading the second chapter rewritten! I hope you enjoyed it! Review please?


	3. Here comes the new Suzaku no Miko

**A/N: **As you can probably tell, I'm the one who rewrote the last chapter. I'm once again writing this story alone in hopes of getting more of it done than was happening before. Anyways, here's chapter three rewritten, no da! I've added a lot more to the chapter!

Shawana woke in the early morning, opening her eyes to pale morning light. She looked around; wondering where she was for a moment, then remembered the past night and what had happened. Her head whipped around and spotted the purple haired man, Nuriko. She stared at his form as it rose and sank back down with his breathing. He was now shirtless, probably because he was too warm sleeping right beside the fire, and she couldn't help noticing the fine lines of muscles along his arms and abs. He obviously wasn't much of a weight lifter(HAHAHA; How was she supposed to know the truth about that?), but he was definitely an athletic person by the look of his lithe muscles.

Throwing the covers back from her, she sat up and swung her legs off the bed, stepping onto the cold wooden floor, and going to throw another piece of wood from the pile into the fire. She did this quietly so she didn't wake the sleeping man beneath her as she set the wood on top of the glowing embers left from the last piece he had put in last night.

The air in the hall was clear and fresh as she crept out of the room; heading down the stairs to peek into what she guessed was a common room of the inn. And elderly woman was sweeping in front of the door, but she looked over as Shawana tripped a little on the last step of the stairs, stumbling into the wall, and clunking her elbow painfully, as well as feeling a bit of pain in her ankle. She let the thought of injury go, and walked slowly towards the elderly woman. "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to have a bath or extra clothes here would you?"

The elderly woman smiled at her and nodded. "Yes miss. We have a hot bath in the back." She motioned towards the hall beside the stair well, which Shawana had just come from then finished up sweeping and placed the broom beside the door and walked into the hall, motioning for Shawana to follow. "I think my daughter's extra clothes might fit you.. She moved from our housing area here long ago. Going on fifteen years now. She's married to a nice man, and has many children." The elderly woman seemed like a very nice woman, Shawana thought as they walked down the hall.

The hot bath happened to be very big, and almost as nice as a large hot springs. She stripped after the woman left to finish cleaning and find some clothes to bring back in an hour or so. The water was foaming and bubbling with the strong heat from the hot coal kept around the edges of the large bath, underneath the thick wood floor of course, so people didn't hurt themselves climbing in.

She sighed happily as she climbed slowly and then waded far into the hot water, sinking to her chin in the deepest part. So the bath was probably at least five feet and two inches at it's deepest. She floated happily, and leaned back, letting herself lay on her back as the water caressed her body with the wonderful heat.

She dipped under the water for almost a minute and came back up for breath, reached up to push her long hair back behind her shoulders, and waded back to a shallower part of the bath, picking up a chunk of rose scented, home made soap from the bath edge. She was rubbing the soap through her hair and standing with the water reaching her waist as she turned to the sound of footsteps and a door opening. "Oh thank yo—" She started, thinking it was the elderly woman.

She was wrong. The shriek that she let out bounced back and forth through the room as she tripped as she sidestepped, falling backwards from being startled by the figure that walked in and immediately spotted her. The only think she felt for a moment after that was heat and a sense of pain through her leg, then she opened her eyes and pushed her way back to the surface of the water, spluttering out water and taking a deep breath before looking back over at Nuriko, who was turned and picking a simple robe, and something else from the floor. It looked as if he had seen her and dropped the clothes with embarrassment or something.

"The woman asked me to bring these in for someone.. I.. I'll just leave them for you, then.." He covered his eyes and turned, walking a bit closer to the bath, leaving the robe folded with some other clothing beside the bath on the floor, before he turned and exited the room swiftly, closing the door with a sharp snap.

"Phew.." She let out a breath and watched him leave, before finishing washing her hair and body. Her body was loath to leave the warm water and enter the cold air, and she dried off quickly with a thick towel made of wool, noticing the pain when she put too much weight on the ankle she had hurt twice already that day. The skirt and blouse fit her fairly nicely, the robe was a bit big, however, so she used the sash from the robe she'd been given to wear last night, and tied it tight around the robe and her waist. She rolled the sleeves of the robe up to her elbow, and then gathered the clothes she had taken off earlier, and exited the room, walking down the hall and back up to the room she had slept in. She looked at Nuriko when she entered and noticed how the sun hit his face in such a nice way. He was incredibly handsome.. Or so she thought anyhow.

**-o-o-o-**

Nuriko was sitting cross-legged beside the window, staring outside blankly, deep in thought as Shawana entered the room. He didn't even notice her staring towards him for a moment. He did notice when she walked past silently and slowly, as if her leg was bugging her. She placed the clothes she had changed out of into his clothing bag, and then walked over to the bed, shaking the sheets out and making the bed up to look nice, before she sat and pulled on her shoes. She took a moment tightening the ties then stood.

She probably guessed that he wouldn't notice the way she flinched and put a bit less weight on her left foot, but he noticed it anyhow. He stood and picked up his bag, tying the top and strapping it to his pouch belt at his waist. "We can get breakfast on the way to the Palace." He smiled towards her, letting his eyes wander from her face and damp hair, down her body to her feet. Before she turned her gaze from her hair, which she was combing her fingers through, of course.

"That's fine." She muttered almost incoherently, probably feeling a bit embarrassed about earlier, when he had…Yes he would even admit it.. When he had seen her unclothed body. It hadn't been a bad sight, either. He would never tell her that though. They'd just met, for Heaven sake.

They exited the room after a moment or two, and then they left the Inn, only stopping so that Nuriko could pay the Man who ran it, and so Shawana could tell the elderly thanks for the clothing and bath.

It was already snowing outside, and the air was very chilly as they walked out and down the road through the market. Only a few women and men were out at this time of day. It was much too cold for children to play outside, and not many of the marketplace stalls were open, either. The few stalls open were selling red meat and fish, the last of the produce from the warmer weather, and warm clothing. Nuriko bought a couple of meat buns from a man wandering around with them, and handed one to Shawana as they walked through the streets towards the center of the city.

Nuriko looked back to Shawana as they left the market streets, and entered the housing area several minutes after they had finished their meager breakfast. He noticed that she was having a hard time keeping up with him, and his eyes were quickly drawn to her legs as she stumbled into him when he stopped suddenly. "Are you doing okay?"

Shawana nodded, though her eyes gave away that she was in pain. "Tell me the truth." He said, and she frowned slightly at him. He had her sit on the pavement, and pulled her shoe off before she could get up again. Her ankle was swelling, and looked painful. He placed his hand on her ankle gently and knew immediately that he should have asked her about her limp back at the Inn. "Yeah, right, you're doing just fine." He looked into her eyes seriously, causing her to look back guiltily, though silently. "You can't keep walking on this ankle, if you do, you could seriously injure your leg muscle."

"But—" Shawana started, but when Nuriko brought his eyes back up to hers, she quieted and nodded slightly, frowning at being caught trying to cover up her pain.

Nuriko pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket and unrolled it, showing it to be a bandage. "I go prepared wherever I go, being an army man." He smiled slightly at her, and then had her stretch out her leg for him. He wrapped her ankle tightly, causing her to yelp once or twice because of the pain, then pulled her shoe back on to her foot. "You can ride on my back until we reach the Palace. After that I don't want you doing anything extreme on your foot like running or jumping.."

She was hesitant to get on his back at first but he assured her that it was just fine. Once on his back she hugged around his shoulders tightly. He felt strangely happy when she hugged him, but let the thought of it just leave his brain as he grasped her legs gently and started walking towards the Palace once again.

As they reached the gate, Nuriko walked through and was about to let Shawana down before a guard let out a yell and ran over. "Oi! You can't be in here!" His spear was unnervingly close Nuriko's chest, so he quickly backed away as more guards gathered, staring at them and muttering amongst themselves.

"Let them pass, men." A clear, beautiful voice rang out above the muttering of the guards, and before Shawana had a chance to see where it had come from, Nuriko had let go of her legs, causing her to slip off his back, and had dropped to the ground in a very low bow. She came up with a slight growl and was about to whack him in the head when she noticed a pretty woman in her middle ages with hair the color of Nuriko's standing a few yards away. Probably to source of the beautiful voice. She looked royal or something like that, Shawana noticed.

Nuriko cleared his throat in an unnaturally loud way, and Shawana looked back to him. Noticing his serious expression, she looked back at the woman and gasped slightly, before dropping into a bow similar to Nuriko's. She looked up slightly as she watched the feet of the woman come nearer.

"You may stand." She said bending to lift Nuriko's chin so he looked into her eyes, and after a moment spoke. "What business have you in the Palace, sir?" After she asked this she backed up and allowed Shawana and Nuriko to stand and face her. She kept looking at Nuriko as if she recognized him.

Nuriko bowed once more, though this was only his upper half, instead of a full body bow. "We've come to speak with you, my Lady Houki. This woman and myself have some questions to ask you." He took Shawana's hand and pulled her closer to him so Houki would know it Shawana he spoke of, and so she would have more support if her foot gave out underneath her because of her injury.

"Very well then, my good man, you may come with me to the garden where I will be breaking my fast and we may speak." She started up the many steps ahead of them. Nuriko looked at Shawana in alarm, wondering if she'd be okay with walking up so many steps. She smiled slightly at him and took his arm, realizing she'd probably need the extra help.

Satisfied with this, Nuriko started up the steps with Shawana holding on to his arm. After they had reached the top a couple minutes later, they followed the Empress into the palace gardens, winding across many paths to a cleared area with a fountain in the midst of a fairly large enclosed pond and clear crystal table set with many dishes of food on the grass beside it.

They waited as Houki sat at the pond edge, beside the crystal table and began eating in a very elegant way. She stopped after a moment and motioned them to come to the table as well. "You may also eat if it pleases you. And then you may ask your questions."

Nuriko helped Shawana walk to the table, and slowly, then both sat the pond edge and joined the Empress in eating, though the lady's maid nearby didn't think this was such a wonderful idea, Nuriko could tell. If word of the Empress mingling with commoners got out, she would be greatly embarrassed.

After they finished eating, The Empress sat back, letting her fingers lightly rake across the pond surface, which rippled happily from the fountain's waterfall. It was just then that Shawana realized the fountain as more than just a figurine of some sort. It was a statue of a man. His arms were outstretched, holding out a long rock carved sword to those who looked on. His eyes were large and beautiful in the white marble like coloring of the statue, and the hair of the man was long, flowing out like it was hit by wind. He was a very dignified, elegant, and handsome man. The simple clothing set off the man's features very beautifully, but what Shawana was drawn to it by the most was the character indentation on his neck, just visible from the edge of the clothing. It was the only part of the statue, which was a different color. The character had a gentle red color seeming to glow from it the way it was painted.

From the sword tip came a stream of clear blue water, which Shawana was watching for a moment until Nuriko started speaking. She looked to Nuriko and Houki who were both seated to her right, and paid attention to them once again.

"My Lady, I would like to know about a man. I suppose you may not have met him, but you may know about him even then. About twenty seven or so years ago, there was a man by the name of Nuriko, or perhaps you knew him as Ryuuen Chou? He was a Suzaku Seishi at the time I've been told. He is my namesake. My name is Ryuuen as well, but I am most commonly called Nuriko as well. I heard of him from the owner of a tavern near the market place. I thought it was a fit thing to ask about, my Lady." Nuriko seemed to feel quite at home here in the Palace garden, as if he'd been there before a long time ago, though his speaking was a bit nervous, Shawana noticed.

As Houki seemed to stare uncertainly at Nuriko for a moment, Shawana took the opportunity run her fingers through the pleasantly cool water of the pond. It was just warm enough out now that the air was only brisk, not chilly as it was earlier in the morning. It seemed to be warmer that day that the day before(If only she knew then why that was.) for some reason.

"You do look just like Nuriko." Houki said finally, causing Shawana to look back to her. Houki had a sad look across her face. "He was one of the Suzaku Seishi at the time you speak of, though he hid the fact that he was a man from many for quite a long time. Even the Priestess didn't know of his being male until she had already started her quest to summon Suzaku." She turned her head and looked longingly at the statue. "He was living here in the Palace, in hopes of marrying the Emperor. The girl he loved when he was just an adolescent had dreamed of being the wife of the emperor, so he took her place when she died trying to save him from something." Houki now seemed to be about to cry, but she quickly looked from them to the statue again. "He died on a mountain in Hokkan, trying to defeat Ashitare of the Seiryuu no Miko's Seishi, so he could get the path to the Genbu Shinzaho clear for the Suzaku no miko. I was his good friend. That's how I came to marry Hotohori, after he returned to the Empire, and after he gave up on getting the Suzaku no Miko to love him." She was once again staring longingly at the statue.

Shawana realized now that the statue must be of Hotohori, the previous Emperor; by the way she kept looking towards it. Shawana looked to the statue, and it seemed even more beautiful now that she knew who it was.

Nuriko was entirely taken in to Houki's story of Nuriko the Seishi. Shawana was startled when he suddenly untied his robe and opened it, pointing to a small character on his chest, which was a faded red color. "Would you happen to know if this mark means I am also a Seishi? And if I am, does that mean that there must be another Suzaku no Miko?"

Houki looked quite startled at the way he simply stripped of his shirt, but then her eyes widened at the mark on his chest. She slowly stood and placed her hands over her heart, still staring, not having blinked once. "Yo—You... You Have the mark of the willow!" She let out a deep breath and nodded to everything he said with wide eyes. "What you said must be so.." She turned to Shawana, calming down quite a bit. "Did you have questions as well miss?"

Shawana looked up from Nuriko to Houki and nodded. "Oh! Yes I do. " She had been paying more attention to Nuriko being bare-chested than to Houki for a minute there. "I would like to know if you know anything about a certain boo—" She was interrupted as a man called out a name nearby. She watched silently as a very close likeness of the statue in the pond came around a section of trees and rose bushes and walked swiftly towards them. He must have been the Emperor Hotohori's son, if she wasn't mistaken. She turned back to Houki and finished what she had been saying before. "About a book called..I believe.. 'The Universe of the Four Gods'."

"Hello Boushin." Houki greeted the man as he walked to her side, and placed hand lightly on his shoulder, turning back to Nuriko(Don't worry, he put his robe back on) and Shawana. "This is my son, the Emperor of Konan." Shawana couldn't help but notice the character on Boushin's neck, just like the one on the statue. "Did you.. Just say—The Universe.. of the Four Gods?" Shawana looked back to Houki and then Boushin, who seemed to understand the situation already, even though he'd only been there a minute or two. "That's.. that book. Miaka….Hotohori..Nuriko.." She seemed to be hyperventilating, her voice trailing off as she started breathing shallowly.

Boushin looked into Shawana's eyes as he place his arm around his mother. "I knew this would happen some day. There's been talk of an evil person lingering somewhere in the wilderness in Kutou." He started this with a strong voice, and then stopped when his mother stiffened and looked at him. "I believe that this woman must be the new Suzaku no Miko, mother."

Shawana remembered something she had heard from a girl in her class a few years ago, in high school.. Something about being a priestess.. What was her name… She was momentarily brought back from her thoughts as Boushin directed his attention to her once again. "Wait a minute!" Her attention snapped to Houki who looked a bit alarm. "Did you just say Miaka!? Miaka and Taka--- Miaka? I know her! I went to school with her, and I'm now taking some college courses with her! And Seraphina too! SERAPHINA! Where's Serap!?" Shawana whipped around and jumped to her feet, looking about frantically, suddenly overpowered with knowledge of the things they were talking about.

Jumping was a very bad idea, she realized as her ankle gave out beneath her and she fell backwards into the pond. Or almost into the pond, she just barely touched the surface before Nuriko's arms shot out under her and lifted her from her precarious situation. "Would you be careful, please?" He asked her in an exasperated tone as she looked up into his face with a guilty look on her own face. She quickly changed that looked from guilty to angry.

"Fine! But first put me down and find Seraphina! She must be here if I am." Nuriko agreed hastily and set her down on the edge of the pond again. Houki suppressed a laugh as she watched this goings on, thinking about how amusing Shawana was.

"I could help you find your friend, Seraphina, if you agreed to do something for me." She almost laughed when Shawana quickly nodded, letting her full attention go to Houki. "You must agree to be our Suzaku no Miko. Then I will send out some of my spies to search the four provinces for your friend."

Shawana realized this was probably an important thing, being the Miko, so she stood, causing Nuriko to give er an alarming look for a minute and hover right by her side in wait. "I will be the Suzaku no Miko, if it is your wish, my Lord, and my Lady." She bowed her head to Houki and Boushin.

Houki patted Shawana's shoulder and laughed inaudibly. "You must first learn of the legend of Suzaku before you can become the Miko, my dear girl. All I need now, is a description of your friend, so I can tell my guards what to use to find her.

Shawana nodded and smiled slightly as Houki called guards over. She gave them a description of Seraphina, the way she had looked that morning when they'd left the apartment together. Then after they left she turned to Houki. "If you could allow me to have some painting materials, I could paint a picture of her for them to use in search, and have it done in hours."

Houki agreed to this, then Nuriko and Boushin joined the small group. Nuriko picked up Shawana before she could say anything and walked into the Palace. It seemed that the two men had struck up a small friendship while the women were busy with the guards. Boushin had given them permission to stay in the Palace for now.

Nuriko followed the Emperor and his mother as they walked inside, carrying Shawana against her will. He only let her down when Boushin showed him the room that was to be Shawana's.

**A/N: **I hope you liked this past chapter! It's about 3000 words longer, but there's a lot more to it than before.

If you're wondering about the original Nuriko's story, where Houki is speaking, all of that is from Yu Watase, not me. It can be read in 'YukiYasha Den' the novel about Ryuuen Chou before he entered the Palace and met the others.


	4. Operation Byakko no Miko

**A/N: **Oh boy! The last of the re writing! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! There's gonna be changes in here because I seriously messed up this chapter when I wrote it.

Tatara led Serap through the forest surrounding, walking slowly; as to make sure she didn't get hurt on the intense brush along the ground before they reached the city. Thinking about this, he flared his fingers out at that moment, and turned his head to look back to the maroon haired woman. Then, making sure she wasn't watching him, he silently focused his attention on the vines growing along the path, and trees.

They started pulling themselves back towards the trees from whence they came, though they made no noise, he was wary that she would notice this happening(Which of course she did, but how was he supposed to know that) as they were walking almost side by side.

Serap watched the happenings sneakily, from the corner of her eye, though she tried not to make it known that she saw this. She suppressed her intake of breath when she first saw what was happening, but quickly got used to it. Things like that probably happened all the time around here.

After several minutes of silence, she was fed up with it, and let out a sigh, turning her head to look at her guide. He quite handsome, though he didn't seem to have a very manly figure. He seemed more at one with plants, than being a man. "Tatara is a nice name." She flushed slightly after saying that. She never really spoke to people(mainly men) in Japan. They always seem to be only talking to her because she was pretty(hehem), not because she was interesting. She decided it was worth speaking with him, however, because he was the only person even sort of like a friend in this strange, unknown place.

Tatara looked to his side, at the short woman, and smiled weakly, before turning back to the path, they were not far from the city now. "If you think so. I never really liked it very much at all. Someone else had it before me, so it's not as special as it could have been." He was mainly speaking to himself but he could feel her eyes on him as they walked in silence once again. As the sun's last light faded, Serap began realizing how chilly it was out there. She rubbed her arms, which were cold in spite of the robe Tatara had lent her.

"I'm sorry about this cold weather, it's normally quite warm here all year long, but it's been colder this year than ever recorded in the past." He smiled comfortingly to her before he stopped in front of what seemed to be a bunch very thick trunk-ed trees so closely grown together, that there was no space in between. She thought that was odd until Tatara reached out and grasped a knob on one of the trunks, and heaved. A small door swung open in the trunk, and there was a path through the trunk into a area bustling with heavily robed people milling about calling out wares.

This was a very interesting way of entering the city, she noticed as they went inside. "How quaint!" She exclaimed once she was able to see all of the houses and market stalls about the area when they were in the open. "This is so much smaller than Tokyo! It absolutely wonderful!" She said this a bit quieter as she realized all of the people seemed to be avoiding her. She looked at Tatara, hoping he'd say something.

"Don't mind the people here. They'll all avoid you because you're wearing odd clothing and shoes(her stiletto heel sandals). They aren't a great fan of change around here. And they are probably wondering why the only warm thing you're wearing is a robe that's fairly thin when it's been so cold around her these past few months." She understood, and showed so by nodding.

Tatara led her into a Tavern with a friendly name, and they sat in the coziest corner they could find. There were only a few people there, made up of older and barely legal age men, and one waitress in a(Wow! Amazing!) modest, blue outfit.

Tatara ordered two cups of tea and some pastries, and they chatted patiently while they waited for the waitress to bring the things he ordered. It took only a few minutes, then the waitress, Mei Lun, set down two steaming hot mugs of tea and a plate of pastries.

Serap immediately sipped the tea and picked up a cream filled bun. After she finished her first bite(it was quite delicious) she looked up at Tatara who had already sipped away half of his mug of tea. "So, what exactly is today's date?" She was wondering if the time was different here. It was October 3rd in Tokyo currently, unless she'd been here for a long time… That was just scary to think about.

"It should be the… 27th of the month of October, if I'm not mistaken." Tatara smiled slightly, perhaps he was thinking she was quite foolish for not even knowing the date, she thought to herself, clasping her hands under her chin. She was only a bit startled that her birthday here was a lot closer than at home in Tokyo. "I don't mean to pry, but you must be nearing sixteen years of age, correct?"

Serap sat back in slight anger, and let her hands fall. "Sixteen! Am I really that young looking?" She knew she probably looked very angry, but she probably shouldn't have felt so bad that he thought she was so young. People mistook her for being younger than she was all the time where she came from. "I'm actually going to be twenty-one in December." She said, becoming a bit calmer. How was he supposed to know that she was older than what she looked like?

Tatara sat back in his chair, watching from over his mug as he let it linger just under his nose. He nodded after a moment, and seemed to acknowledge the fact that she could indeed be that old. "You would certainly be a stronger Byakko no Miko then. It would be better if she was older, so she would withstand certain illnesses that happen only when you're younger…" Serap waiting for a minute after he stopped speaking then picked up her tea, draining the rest of it in two gulps. "Oh! Forgive me for ignoring you! I shouldn't sit here ignoring when you are such a special woman."

"Special? Who me?" Serap raised her eyebrow and could hardly stop herself from snorting at this. Oh yes, she was such a 'special' person.. Who's this Byakko no Miko you're talking about?" She looked at him curiously as she took another bite of her pastry.

"The Byakko no Miko? Oh she's….

**-O-O-O-O-O-**

"You need me…To be her? I mean.. The Byakko no Miko?" Serap asked the dark haired man seriously after he explained the legend of the four gods, and a lot about the previous Byakko Priestess, Suzuno. He'd obviously been telling her **everything** he knew about the legend, because it took a good two hours. By the time he was finished she was starting to feel a bit tired.

"Yes," Tatara spoke softly so the rest of the men in the building couldn't overhear them. "I believe our country needs you a great deal. If you agree to be our Miko, we will need to find the other Seishi and bring them together to defeat this great evil. The ice of this unnatural winter is slowly but surely taking over the hearts of everyone in our land and turning their minds to evilness, surrounding them with ice." He was very serious, though quiet, as he spoke. "Even now, people who were our greatest, and most kind citizens are turning. Their hearts are becoming greedy and angry, though they may not even know it yet."

Serap blinked at him then her gaze was drawn to the last few men there, who were exiting through the door out into the chill night. The blast of cold air from the door caused her to shiver, for she had long since shed the robe he had lent her, because of the nice big fire going close to their table.

She folded her hands in her lap, and looked towards the nearest window. She just make out the dark forms of people walking through the snow that was now falling in big flakes, and swirling about with the whistling wind. "I," She started, looking from the window to Tatara and back. He was also watching her intently now that she had started to speak. She sat up straighter and brought her full attention to the matter at hand. "I'll do it. If it will help so many people in your country, I'll do it. And it might be easier for me to find my friend if she's in one of the four provinces, if I'm running about trying to find other people as well."

Tatara nodded in agreement with her statement, and stood, setting a few silver coins on the table, causing the waitress to look towards him in surprise as she made her way over to clean up their mugs and the plate with only a few pastries remaining on it. "Come along, Seraphina of Tokyo. If we are to be up tomorrow to start a quest, we must first get some rest." He smiled at his own rhyme and held out his hand for her to take, which of course, she did.

Tatara got them the only room available and they headed up the stairs, finding the room to be quite cozy, though it was a bit small. There was only one small bed, which he insisted she sleep on. She was about to protest but Tatara held up his hand towards her and smiled. "Please don't argue. I feel more at home on the floor. I can feel what is happening outside a lot more easily."

Serap closed her, now open for nothing, mouth, and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling off her sandals and setting them on the desk beside the bed. She pulled the sheets of the bed back and climbed in, throwing them over her legs. The yellow band she'd put in her hair earlier came out easily as she ran her fingers through her hair. She snapped the hair band around her wrist and lay back onto the pillow, suddenly feeling tired.

"Good night Seraphina." Tatara said from his position beside the now blazing fire in the corner of the dark room. He set the now flame-less candle that had been lighting their room for a few minutes on the windowsill next to some flint stones.

Funny how she felt completely safe and at peace with him there on the floor, like he was her guard. Serap fell asleep almost as soon as her eyes closed.

**-O-O-O-O-O-**

Serap woke to the sounds of movement nearby and because pale light filtered into the room straight into her face. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the dark haired man from yesterday, tying a green sash over his shirt at the waist of his warm robe. She pushed herself up, dark red hair falling in front of her face, making a curtain between the two of them. Pulling the blankets back from her body, she let out a slight sigh as the cold air broke across her skin, then stepped onto the warmed(because of the fire) floor.

"Good morning." Tatara said in a cheerful voice as she strapped her sandals on and pulled her maroon hair back into a high ponytail, only leaving a bit down in the front, falling to her chin in front of her right eye. "How was your sleep? I do hope you rested well." He knelt and tied black ribbons up his pant legs coming from the top of his black shoes to almost his knees.

"It was very restful indeed, Tatara." Serap stood and attempted to smooth the wrinkles that had appeared on her knee length skirt and tee shirt during the night. After a moment, she picked up the robe he had lent her the evening before and pulled it on, tying the sash loosely around her waist as she followed him out of their room and down to the main room of the building. Tatara purchased some breakfast buns from the man behind the counter, then they left the building, heading out into the light snow in the morning light.

"So where are we heading now?" Serap inquired, walking in pace beside him as they crossed the street and headed down the main road of the city. He looked towards her uncertainly, then out towards the center of town.

" We should start searching today, so we can get ahead of pace, instead of waiting around for days and hoping your Seishi come to us. It's taken up to months for the past Priestesses to find all of their Seishi before now, and if we wait that long, we may not even get the chance for you to become the Priestess at all. Our country may be gone within a few months, or at least the heart of it. Byakko help us if that happens."

The conversation ended just like that, and Serap started looking around, keeping silent. She paused as they walked through a square in the center of town, and looked at a particularly old monument. Just as she walked along beside it, she thought she saw a white figure dart a few paces to the side and disappear behind the monument.

"There's said to be and elderly couple living in the hills outside of town, who know much of the Byakko Seishi. Perhaps we should go see them." Tatara said as he swerved to the road that led down to the gates. Serap nodded and walked towards him, trying to forget about figure she'd seen.

"As long as they can help us I don't mind." She said out loud, a cheesy grin breaking across her face as they began walking towards the gates of the city. They reached the gate within a few minutes of normal paced walking.

They left the city and walked down the road a ways before turning off onto a dirt path for carts. They followed it for about a mile(this wasn't easy with Serap wearing those impossible sandals) before they saw the small, old looking house in the midst of the next hill.

"That's where we're going?" Serap asked, looking towards Tatara and then back to the house and the wisps of smoke coming from it's chimney. Tatara murmured 'mmhmm', and they kept walking. He could tell she was going to be good at this whole Byakko no Miko situation.

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed the new and improved fourth chapter! I put some extra stuff in and extended it with a bit more description and detail. The story will have a new chapter soon. Review!


	5. Who is this stranger?

**A/N:** I started this chapter a while back…Oh about a year or two ago.. But now I'm finally writing out the whole thing! I hope you enjoy it!

The soft bed creaked softly as Shawana stretched her arms out, crossing them beneath her red waves of hair. The large bed she was on was rather comfy, and it plus the fireplace made her feel increasingly lazy at the moment, having eaten her fill at the lunch provided for them earlier.

She was to stay in this bedchamber. The one that Miaka had stayed in for a while when she had been here twenty-seven years before. It had been only about six years in the time she was in.. Because Miaka had been fifteen here in Konan, and in Shaw's memory, Miaka had turned twenty-one at her last birthday. They'd announced it in the college.

They'd gone through the ceremony of becoming the Priestess privately, because Houki didn't want to risk uproar around the provinces. If word got out about Shawana any time in the next few months, they would risk a war between any of the countries.

She looked over at Nuriko as he walked in a leaned against the wall beside her door. His gaze went from one end of the room to the next, lingering at the sight in the window of the gardens behind the palace and a wall beyond. "So, I take it you do like your room?" He turned his gaze to her then picked up a pail that was sitting at his feet. "I found out from Lady Houki just now that I'm quite a bit taller than Nuriko was in the past." He said to Shawana as he walked across the room and poured water from the pail into a pot hanging in the fire at the opposite end of the room.

He can't have stood higher then five feet-ten inches, but Shawana chose not to tell him that most her in her homeland, America, grew to be taller even than that a lot of the time. She sat up, though she kept her injured ankle elevated on a pillow, and brought her waves of hair all to one side, and started braiding it. "I love the room." She finished the braid quickly and tied the end with a pale green ribbon she had found on what she supposed was the vanity desk. "And I bet Serap would like it as well." She smiled slightly(though her eyes showed she was probably in a far away place right then), shifting her position so she was more comfortable.

Nuriko laughed slightly, leaning against the mantel of the fireplace and looking in her direction. "I'm sure she would. Most people would, if they were in their right mind." He looked out the window again, watching snow fall in small whirling flakes outside the window, where it was slowly forming a thick layer across the whole garden, and wall.

He pulled the pot of now boiling water from the fire, careful not to spill any of the hot liquid as he poured the water into a small tub beside Shawana's bed. She needed to soak her ankle, or else the swelling could stay for quite a while, which wouldn't exactly be the best thing to happen.

Shawana smiled at him as she moved to that side of the bed and sank her injured foot into the hot water. It was very hot, of course, but she only flinched a bit before leaning back and perching with her arms holding her back.

Nuriko smiled in a satisfied way, and sat beside her, looking around the room once again. "It's amazing. This room seems so familiar to me. Like I've spent a lot of time here before without realizing it." He seemed a bit stressed about this thought, to Shawana anyhow..

He shrugged after a moment, and pulled his legs up onto the bed, crossing them and leaning back comfortably. After that, they both stayed silent for a few minutes. Nuriko watched into the fire, and Shawana studied him curiously, thinking about the way things were happening with them.

Eventually, Shawana was fed up with the silence and sat up straight, turning her torso to the man on her bad and shaking her braid back behind her shoulder. "So," She began in a straightforward manner. "why don't you ever go by your real name. You know,.. Ryuuen."

Nuriko looked over into those grass green eyes for a moment, then sighed and reached up, tucking his hair behind his ear. "I've never gone by Ryuuen. At least not since I was very young. My mother once called me Nuriko when I was very young, and it's stuck with me ever since, I suppose. And I never thought Ryuuen was a wonderful name, anyhow."

Shawana nodded and turned away from his eyes, feeling a bit uncomfortable all of the sudden, and leaned forward, to inspect her ankle. She pressed her hand to it and didn't flinch in pain, like she had before it had soaked in the water.

"Would you like to go into the marketplace, Priestess?" This caused Shawana to look up with her eyebrow raised at him only seconds after he spoke. "What? I believe I should call you that once, since you know, you **are** the Priestess now."

"Not that!" Shawana muttered, pulling her foot from the water up onto the bed, not noticing that the water dribbled up her leg, or onto the bed. "I can't exactly walk very well at the moment. In case you hadn't noticed earlier."

"Oh yeah.." Nuriko frowned slightly, and stood, crossing his arms and thinking for a moment. He snapped his fingers and smiled at her, letting his arms fall to his sides. "The Empress sent a pair of wooden crutches up with me a while ago, they're in my chambers." He turned on his heel and exited before Shawana could stop him.

Sighing in amused annoyance, Shawana crawled across the bed and stepped out onto the floor unsteadily, then limped(though not quite as painfully as earlier that day) over to the door. She kneeled down beside the open door and grabbed her boots. Sitting back, she pulled them on and tied up the sides in a few minutes time, and was just standing as she heard steps approaching.

"Sure took you long enough." She murmured when Nuriko came into view from around the corner near the room. "What were you doing? Taking a nap?" She couldn't help but grin in a silly way as she stood quickly to move out of his way.

"_Aw shi_-" She let out in a spurt of English as she felt her foot give out beneath her once again. She knew that swearing wasn't necessary, but she swore anyhow. Though she didn't have much reason to swear, because before she could even finished her swear word of choice, Nuriko swooped in to save the day.

Again.

Well, okay, maybe he didn't swoop then. It just seemed like it, because he was suddenly there, she was suddenly turned towards him, and his arm was around her waist. He stared at her in annoyance for a moment, causing her to blush guiltily, but then he let her go, and she quickly steadied herself, taking the wooden crutches from his arm that had not been around her waist.

"Well, let's go then." She murmured, her eyes downward, walking past him with the crutches. She was already halfway down the hall when she heard a light whoosh and felt a cloak drape across her shoulders.

"It's snowing outside, you know. We don't need you freezing to death on us." Nuriko smiled, his white teeth flashing in the light from the windows they were walking beside. Shawana groaned and walked a bit faster, feeling annoyed by him at the moment. He was so annoying sometimes.

After a while they reached the marketplace, and Shawana was immediately drawn to a small stall selling art pieces. She looked through all of the small figuring on the stall table, letting her hand rest on a small black and white cat made of porcelain , as she turned to Nuriko, who was staring at a big painting at the back of the stall. "You wouldn't happen to have any extra money, would you, Nuriko?" She grinned innocently as he turned to look at her with slightly widened eyes.

Nuriko looked at her with an annoyed expression for a minute or so, but when she didn't stop grinning, he sighed and pulled his money pouch from inside of his robe. "How much is it?" He reached over and picked up the figurine she wanted.

He pulled a small silver coin from his pouch and placed it in the hands of the man selling the things, then took the figurine, now wrapped in a piece of cloth, and placed it gently in a separate pouch, hanging from his sash.

They walked away from the shop and a ways down the street until Shawana found another thing she wanted him to buy for her, causing many complaints from him to her about not having **that** much money to spend on just anything.

The next hour or so flew right by, and Nuriko now cringed and dreaded every time Shawana would yell to him "Nuriko! Com'ere!"

**-o-o-o-o-**

Shawana sighed happily as she and Nuriko walked back towards the Palace(Nuriko now hauling at least a few small bags of things she had made him buy for her) and smiled around at the guards as they passed through the gates. She was feeling very optimistic at the moment, and not even stern(angry) looking guards wouldn't make that go away.

As they walked into the palace, a maid hastily walked towards them halting them on their way to the bed chambers. "You are called to appear at evening meal in ten minutes time. Please look your best." She bobbed a quick bow before rushing through a door, Shawana guessed was the door for the kitchen by the smell coming from it.

"Oh wonderful!" Shawana exclaimed happily, and turned to Nuriko as they began walking again. "You can just leave those things in my room, then." He raised his eyebrow at her, but did as she said, and they both hastily cleaned up for supper.

The dining room emitted a glorious smell as they entered it only a few minutes later, guided by the maid who had brought them their message, and caused Shawana to smile. This was going to be a nice way of living, though she knew it wouldn't last very long, since she had to leave the Palace eventually. All of her Seishi weren't going to come to her just because she wanted them to.

Houki was waiting patiently at the seat to the left of what appeared to be the head seat(probably because that's where Boushin was seated), and she stood to great them as they walked to the opposite side of the table and took seats. The meal was already set on the table, and by the looks of it, they had only been waiting for Shawana and Nuriko to appear before they started eating. That made Shawana flush slightly, though that quickly faded as she looked over all of the delicious foods set before them.

The conversation during the time they ate was sparse until almost the end of the meal, when someone commented that Shawana and Nuriko should head out of the city to search for her Seishi some time a week or so after her ankle healed properly.

"Yes, I do suppose that would be best." Nuriko said after Boushin mentioned this, as he reached for his cup of tea. He took a quick sip of the said tea, and then turned to look at Shawana. "I believe we should have some sort of entourage as well, just in case we come into some trouble along our travels.

"That is quite true." Boushin nodded and let his hands rest on his lap elegantly. "It would be best to sent some of my guards with you. I will alert them to find five or so of their best to prepare for a trip first thing in the morning."

Nuriko seemed quite pleased with this, though Shawana just frowned. She didn't feel the need to have a ton of big ugly guards following after her all the time. She was just about to speak up about this as the doors of the room opened and a servant rushed in and over to Houki's side.

"There is a young man to see you my Lady. He says he's here about a job as a guard. Looks to be just barely old enough for the position." She bowed several times as she said this and Houki smiled bringing her hand up and waving it in a motioning way.

"Bring him in. We are done with our meal any way." Shawana was stunned at how utterly dignified Houki sounded as she said a simple thing like that. It hadn't quite sunk in since she'd been in the Palace that these people really were royalty. A few moments later, after the servant rushed back out, a young man walked in, not even announcing himself before doing so.

"My Lord Emperor." He said in what sounded like an adolescent boy's voice, as he bowed to Boushin who was still seated leisurely at the head of the table. He then turned to Houki and bowed once more. "My Lady, I've come to ask for a place as one of your personal guards."

He stood up tall(or as tall as he could being fairly short in height) and let his hands fall beneath the edge of the tattered traveling cloak, which hid his face from view, only showing the lower part of his torso, and his legs, clothed in commoner's simple tunic and trousers. There was something odd about him.

Or so Shawana thought anyway. She found him to be quite fascinating though she didn't even know his name.

**A/N:** Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and found it worth taking the time to read. Review!


	6. A time for sudden light

**A/N**Okay, so you can all probably tell that I'm going one chapter at a time per each Priestess, but I'm writing a warning here, I may change that in the future, depending on how fast or slow I want things to go. Anyways, Here's chapter six!

The wind whirled snowflakes lightly around as Seraphina and Tatara neared the small shack of a home on the crest of the hill. There seemed to be no real problems with the home, other than it looked so old it might fall down at any moment. This didn't stop Seraphina, however. She made her way past Tatara as they walked along the path, and knocked softly on the thin wooden door of the home.

After a moment they heard the soft sound of footsteps approaching. The door cracked showing an eye the color of midnight, then opened wider and the whole woman appeared. She seemed to be in her early forties or so, with black hair that was just starting to grey along the bottom layer, which was pulled into two intricate, high buns, with golden ribbons woven throughout them.

When she opened the door all of the way, her appearance was starkly different below her face, which had a look of elegant nobility. She had on a simply kimono like dress in the colors of pale pink and blue, that had obviously seen better days.

"Welcome." She said in a soft, very pleasant sounding voice. "May I offer you shelter against the weather young ones?" She motioned for them to come in, then bowed her head in assurance that it was open for them to come. Seraphina smiled and bobbed a quick bow before entering the home.

Tatara followed her, though he walked as though something seemed amiss, the way he kept looking around with shifty glances. The woman brought them over to a small table where she sat on her knees and poured a cup of tea for each of them in turn. Seraphina and Tatara sat as well, though neither felt at ease now. It seemed as if she'd been expecting them.

Once they had been given their tea, the woman motioned for them to speak and sat back with her hands in her lap. "Why have you come to see me?"

It was a simple question, but Seraphina kept looking to her side at Tatara.. She couldn't think of any way to sound intelligent(-cough-just as good as the woman-cough-) if she was the one to speak. He looked to the side as well and caught her eye then sighed, turning back to the woman(such a lovely name, that) with a serious look.

"We've come today to ask what you know about the Byakko Seishi. I've been told that you know a great matter on the subject. We are currently looking for those of the Byakko Seishi and need information." He finished speaking and let a small huff of breath escape his lungs before meeting eyes with the woman. "I am Tatara, of the Byakko Seishi, and this is Seraphina Carradine. She is the Byakko no Miko."

Seraphina just barely noticed when the woman's eyes widened a bit, and there was a slight intake of breath from her, along with a few moments silence.

"The Byakko no Miko has made a comeback already, then.." The woman murmured, mainly to herself, though she was looking into Seraphina's eyes. "Forgive me," She jumped slightly and nodded her head to the Byakko no MIko. "my name is Si Fan. When I was a young girl, around the time of the Suzaku and Seiryuu Mikos, I lived with two of the old Byakko Seishi, named Tokaki and Subaru. They took me in when my family died, and taught me much about Byakko."

"So then, you think you may be able to help us?" Seraphina asked in a slightly excited tone and leaned closer to Si Fan, with only the length of the small table separating them. Tatara elbowed Seraphina and gave her an annoyed looked when she met his eyes, like he was saying 'back up' or something close to it.

"I may be able to help you indeed." Si Fan stood swiftly and bowed low before exiting the room for a minute. She came back with a scroll that was bound with silver ribbon. "This is a map of the land of Sairou." She slipped the ribbon off and spread the map out. It looked as if it had been drawn about thirty or so years before. "You see these places which have stars next to them?" She pointed to several towns, and Seraphina leaned in to get a better view. This time Tatara didn't elbow her. "These are areas around which it was reported people with glowing characters on their bodies were seen in the last seven years. I have heard no rumors in the past year or so of anymore, but this is the only thing with which I can help you. Please take the map with you when you leave."

"This helps a lot, thanks." Seraphina smiled happily at Si Fan, then rolled up the map and tied the ribbon around it again. She was standing and patting Tatara on the shoulder about to ask if they could leave, when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned and Si Fan frowned a bit at her, before pointing to the window at the end of the room.

"You shouldn't leave until the snow lets up. You could get caught in a blizzard before you reach the town again." There was snow in big flakes whizzing past the window outside, almost as thick as water, and this caused Tatara to let an uncharacteristic groan from his person. Seraphina slowly sat down once again.

"How about I prepare you a midday meal later, and then if the snow is let up, you leave then." Si Fan stood once more and turned to leave the room as Seraphina nodded to her, once again cheerful. Why not stay for a meal. It **was** snowing much too strongly out there to be able to get back to the town very easily.

But for some reason, Seraphina suddenly felt like she should stay anyway. Like she should be waiting for something… 

Or someone?

**-o-o-o-o-o-**

Shortly after they finished eating their midday meal, the snow started to lessen in it's powerful downfall. But then as they stood to collect their things, then unexpected happened. Though they had been there for at least four hours, they had yet to see Si Fan's husband..

That was changed as the two collected their things.

The front door of the home burst open with and cold air and snow whirled into the room, nearly putting out the oil lamp at the other end of the room. An older man, perhaps around the age of fifty, entered the home, with a look of rage upon his face, and slammed the door shut. He was flushed, and seemed to bring the smell of liquor into the room with him.

"Woman!" He through his thick cloak off and walked over, grabbing Si Fan's kimono and hefting her almost off of the ground. "What have I told you about having--" He turned to glance at Tatara and Seraphina who had stopped in the middle of gathering their things and were now watching. "-visitors in our home? It is FORBIDDEN. Tell them to leave at once!" He threw Si Fan to the ground and watched with a scowl as she lifted herself from the ground cradling her left arm as if it hurt. 

The man must have thought she was taking too long, because he reached down, got a grip on her arm(the hurt one) and flung her from the ground even farther back into the room. "If you won't throw them out, I will, you worthless witch!"

He turned on Seraphina and walked over to her, and shoved her in the direction of the door, and into Tatara. They both stumbled back into the door. "Remove yourself from my property at once you fowl beings!" He turned on Si Fan and went back in her direction. She had pushed herself up and backed into the corner of the room, now holding her arm even closer. He walked right up to her and slapped her in the face.

With Tatara and Seraphina still standing there within full view of the happenings. 

And that was too much. "HEY!" Seraphina didn't even really think before she ran past Tatara(who let out a yell in warning and made a grab for her) and launched herself at the drunken man. Who just happened to whirl around as she jumped, and made a perfect opening for her to bring her elbow into the side of his head.

She let out a gasp and jumped back as he yelled in outrage and picked up a vase that had been sitting on a counter(minding it's own business there on its own) and brought it down in her direction. Seraphina yelped as she felt an arm wrap swiftly around her waist and pull her back before she had time to blink in the vase's(because the thought of it hitting her head was more alarming than the big hulking drunken guy holding it) direction. 

The vase broke into a hundred(give or take a few) pieces, which flew across the floor. Tatara stopped hauling Seraphina as they reached the farthest corner of the room, the door to their right, the man following them in haste. Before she could think, he had stooped and brought up a thin, about four inch long sliver of jagged porcelain, from the broken vase, bringing it down over her as Tatara leaned over, forcing her to turn partially.

The intake of breath that followed the sound of something puncturing flesh did not come from Seraphina. "Tatara!" She immediately kicked the drunken man in the area just below his belt(ahem) and spun, grasping Tatara's arm, pulling him closer and forcing him to turn. She almost cried at the sight of blood, and pulled the piece of vase from just below the ridge of his shoulder on his back, immediately covering it with her sleeve in hope of stopping the blood flow.

As if he couldn't be gotten rid of ever, the drunken man was back, with the shard of vase Seraphina had just removed and thrown to the floor. She didn't have anywhere to run, and she wouldn't leave Tatara to be ravaged by the evil man just so she could escape. She stood up tall, leaving her Seishi leaning in the corner with a weak look about him, as if he knew he couldn't do much now. It was her fight, anyways.

She pulled her arms back close to her body and bent her legs, trying to imitate a position she had seen once in some movie. The man raised his eyebrows, then shook his head and let out what sounded like a war cry, and lunged for her, holding the shard like a knife. She took the opportunity to whirl and throw her right leg right into his chest.

Yeah, a high kick on a tall guy? Not the best idea there.

Of course, he caught her foot(as you all knew he would, right?) and twisted, causing her to get flipped, and land on the floor. She struggled to get up, not even bracing herself against the kick that followed, and turned, holding her side. She felt like she was going to die..And the man's hand seemed to come at her in slow motion with the shard gleaming in sudden light.

Wait.. Sudden light! With a burst of energy, she turned her head and looked towards the door, which was now standing open. A boy had thrown it open was running(or what seemed like running anyways) towards them, grasping something circular and small in his hand. He threw the circular thing at the drunken man and Seraphina watched in wonder as a globe of globe of white light enveloped the man, cause him to stop moving.

Seraphina backed up and stood as quickly as she could, flinching with pain a few times, quickly ripping about half of her left sleeve off. She crumpled it up and rushed to Tatara(who was now slumped over, like he was about to faint), nearly slipping in the puddle of blood that had run down from his wound. "Tatara! Don't faint on me!" She 

lightly smacked his face with her right hand; while she tore his robes open with her left, and found the wound opening. It was an ugly thing, and it looked like at least two inches of the shard had gone into him before ripping across his skin a ways. "Oh man!" She said clapping her hand over her mouth, and using the other to press the ball of fabric to the wound. She had never been good around wounds. 

Not good at all. 

Her head suddenly felt light and whoozy. She hardly noticed Tatara standing a bit taller an turning to her. What she did notice was the boy from before standing on Tatara's other side a split second after she'd been looking at blank wall. And she noticed the symbol blazing on his cheek, so bright that she couldn't help but notice it. That was the last thing she noticed, though. 

**-o-o-o-o-o-**

It mustn't have been very long before she woke up, because when Seraphina opened her eyes, the boy and Si Fan were moving Tatara over to the table, which was draped with a blanket, and his wound was still bleeding, though he seemed to have blacked out.

She was lying in front of the fire, to which a new log had just been added, and a blanket was draped across her as well. The drunken man was no-where to be seen. When she sat up, her head felt a bit light once again, but she quickly stood and followed them over to the table, though they didn't seem to notice her until she sat beside Si Fan and placed a hand on Tatara's bare chest. 

"Is he okay?" She asked at the same time Si Fan let out a yelp and told her that she should not have gotten up. "I'm fine! It's him who's got the wounded body here!" She looked up at the boy from before and stared solemnly as he tied a thick cloth bandage around Tatara's wound. 

He had white hair that wisped around his face almost angelically as he bent over the Seishi before him; the rest of his hair was long and pulled back in a clasp at the back of his head. His eyes were a golden brown color, and very mature looking, though he couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen years old. 

Very young to be one of the ones she was looking for, but yet, she had seen the character on his cheek earlier. **That**was why Si Fan had asked them to stay! She was waiting for this boy to come. "Is he your son?" She turned and asked quietly in Si Fan's direction, but didn't take her eyes away from the two Seishi.

"Yes. His name is Ran-luan. As you have probably guessed," Seraphina finally took her eyes away from the males, and brought to Si Fan's face. "he's one of your Seishi. You should call him by the name of Tokaki." Seraphina started a bit. Tokaki had been the name of the man that Si Fan had lived with when she was young. "It was only fitting that I should bear the son to replace the man who brought me up from my youth." 

Seraphina smiled slightly and her gaze drifted back to the two Seishi. Tatara was stirring, and Tokaki had finished bandaging him. 

She placed her hand on his forehead and sighed at the warmth that she felt rush from his body into hers. Or maybe it was vice versa, from her body into his. He opened his eyes and looked back and forth between Tokaki and Seraphina. "We've one less to look for now, Tatara." She pointed to Tokaki, and Tatara looked over at him once again.

The boy nodded his head and sat back on his heels. "I would be glad to travel with you, Priestess." He said this simply, then stood and walked out of the room, presumably to pack his things.

"Well, that one down. Only five more to go." Tatara said with a gently smile on his face. He shrugged into his robe, which was still hanging from his sash, and sat up slowly, putting his weight on the uninjured sight of his body. "We'll depart tomorrow, but for now, we'd best get back to our Inn. It will be bad if we are stuck walking through the snow in the dark. Who knows what sort of predators walk the night in these times."

**-o-o-o-o-o-**

Back in Tokyo, a brunette woman of the age of twenty one walked down the hall of an apartment building, and toddler in one arm and a purse in her other hand. She stopped at her destination. A plain white door. And then knocked. And waited. And waited. 

"Shawana! Seraphina, it's me!" She tapped her foot in slight annoyance, then pulled a spare key from underneath the number plaque on the door. She only used the spare key when she had too.After unlocking the door she placed the key back in it's place and entered the apartment. 

There was no answer as she called the two girls names again, and she sighed. They must have made a last minute 'rush out to the store' trip, or something. Except.. That there was already a bag of groceries on the counter. She sighed and placed her toddler down beside the counter and went into the family room.

The gasp and rush of air that came from the woman might have been enough to cause a hurricane. She dropped to her knees on the floor next to the oh so familiar book that she hadn't seen, or even thought of in about four years. The pages fell open and her eyes widened in intense surprise as she read the pages of the story unfolding even as she watched it.

"Miaka! Where are those two? They invited us over didn't they?" The sound of someone closing the apartment door and walking in to the living room caused her to look up. A tall man walked into the room, holding the toddler whom she had set down in the kitchen. Oh that's right. That was her husband.. Taka. He looked down at the book in her hands and almost dropped their beautiful daughter. 

"It's happening again." Were the only words that escaped her before the situation actually fully dawned on her. "Shawana and Seraphina are in the book. Somethings gone wrong."

**A/N:** Did you all like the 'big' fight scene? I hope you did! That's around the time I was most motivated for writing today. XD; 

I almost put a little (guess who!) in there at the last few paragraphs, but I figured you intelligent peple would figure it out before the fourth paragraph went by.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review if you did!


	7. REPLACED me?

**A/N: **Hey guys! Didja miss me? I certainly hope so.

So I was listening to some old CDs I made with the Fushigi Yuugi anime soundtrack on them, and I suddenly had an urge to write on this fic, so I'm happy to announce that --

Here's chapter seven!

I hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

Boushin stood from his seat and stared royally at the young boy standing before them. Shawana knew that he was most likely very irritated that the boy had not even introduced himself, so she quickly removed herself from her seat(ignoring Nuriko's cries of protest) and half-limped-half walked over to the boy, grasping his arm and smiling at him.

"I'm sure they would like to know your name first, young man." The boy's hood fell back and he pulled his arm from her grip, before nodding to her and turning his head towards Boushin once more. He looked between Boushin and Shawana, before sweeping a hand through his slightly shaggy brown hair that swept down across his pale orange-brown eyes and straight, regal nose.

"My name is Oh Do Chun. I am of age for this job. I turned fifteen a few months ago. And I have passed the entrance forms. If it helps, I had a private tutor and have passed all of my exams with top scores.." Do Chun smiled with pouty lips(the kind that makes a teenage girl's heart flutter) and bowed once more, this time almost touching his hair to the floor.

Boushin looks much less angered after Do Chun introduced him self, and nodded in accordance with the terms of age and intelligence. "If you could go into this back room with me, young man." Boushin gestured to a wooden door behind him, leading to a room where the Emperor's own bodyguards were eating their evening meal.

Shawana returned to her seat to grab her crutches, since her ankle was protesting, and waited for Nuriko to finish drinking his tea, before they left the room with Houki so that the servants could remove the dishes and clean the table and floor.

"The nerve of that boy.." Nuriko murmured shooting a glance behind them as they walked a ways down the hall from the dining room. Shawana stopped and stared out onto the garden from an open balcony, where snow drifted lazily by in front of her. She turned her head and looked over at Nuriko, who hadn't yet realized she had stopped, and was continuing down the hall. She cleared her throat to get his attention, causing him to whip around and his face to flush a light pink color as he walked back to where she had stopped. "You're going to catch a cold, Shawana!" He rested his hand on her arm and gently tried to pull her along.

"No I won't." She jerked her arm out of his grip, turning to lean against the stone edge of the balcony. Her hand shot out as a large flake drifted down, and she caught it, watching it melt on her warm hand. "It's beautiful out here. Shame that you just want to get away from it and go inside.."

"Hey! That's not true.. I just.." He was going to continue on with his sentence, but stopped and leaned down beside her, resting his arms on the edge of the balcony. She turned her head slightly to watch him as his big, coral-peach colored eyes followed the path of snow flakes as they made there way down to land on various dying plants and flowers. He really was a very handsome man. She couldn't help but notice this as she watched him.

He noticed she was watching him and turned to look at her with a questioning look in his eyes. She shook her head and grabbed her crutches, now standing next to her against the balcony, and began making her way back to her chamber. Nuriko followed after with his arms at the ready in case she slipped on any puddles of melt snow that had managed to slip in with a breeze from outside.

As they were about to turn at the end of the hall and go inside the enclosed part of the building, Boushin and Do Chun exited the dining room, and began walking towards them. Shawana turned and maneuvered herself back towards them. They met about halfway and Boushin motioned for Nuriko to follow them as they walked towards Shawana's chamber once again. Once in the secure room, he closed the door behind them and sat on the small chair beside the door.

"I have arranged for Do Chun to accompany four of my own guards with you on your journey to find your Seishi, Priestess." He sat straighter and nodded towards Nuriko. "You, Nuriko, will also be in my service as a guard for her. I will not be able to go with you, but I will expect you back within three weeks of your departure tomorrow. I find it best that you leave as soon as possible, so no foreigner knows of your existence here in the palace."

Nuriko nodded in agreement and also sat, though on the floor in front of the fire. "I agree with all of your statements, Emperor. But will this not deplete your guard by too much?"

"Not at all. I have many guards, and even if anything were to happen to me, my place would be taken by my mother under the new law of the country. If anything were to happen to her as well, the rule would go to my advisor. He is a very trustworthy man, unlike the one in my father's days. The country is well protected, Nuriko, so you have nothing to worry about except your own journey." Boushin stood and opened the door, standing at the threshold for only a moment to bid farewell, before exiting and closing the door behind him.

Shawana frowned slightly, but sat down on her bed and set the crutches down on to the floor with a slight clatter. "So, Do Chun, you say you just turned fifteen recently?" When the boy nodded, she smiled and motioned for him to sit near Nuriko. "That's nice! I'm going to be twenty in a few months, so I'm not that much older than you. Only a few years." She grinned and crossed her legs, before lying back leisurely on her bed. When she didn't say anything for a few minutes, Nuriko stood and walked over. He couldn't help but let out a small laugh as he saw that she was already sleeping. He didn't blame her though. They had been out all day in the market, running to and fro. That had obviously drawn her to the point of exhaustion. He motioned for Do Chun to follow him quietly as they exited the room, and took him to his quarters. The boys would be rooming together than night.

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

The sound of horses clopping down the dirt path in the woods was the only sound around except for the chirping of birds as they traveled the next day. Shawana held the reigns of her pure black mare(named 'Ninja' by herself, although it already had a name), and looked around the surrounding trees and bushes. For some reason she felt very uneasy, but of course, maybe that was because she had caught a cold(Nuriko gloated over this that morning.) and now had a very uneasy stomach, as well as a head ache.

She couldn't help but picture how Boushin had looked that morning as they road off. He had wanted to go, she could see it in his eyes, but she hadn't suggested anything of the sort. In fact, she had been mostly quiet all day.

"We should be coming to the nearest village soon, Shawana." Nuriko spoke up from his own steed, clopping along just ahead of her own. The guards were behind them, and Do Chun was at the very front of the entourage, of his own choice. "So we can find a healer for your cold." He smiled slightly; obviously gloating about the fact that he had predicted she would catch a cold. It was her own fault that she had caught a cold, and she knew it. She had almost told him that, along with a few unseemly words, several times.

"Soon as in..how long? An hour?" She stared at him with her own large eyes as she tried very hard not to clench her legs against the chest of her horse, as not to make it speed up. She was having a hard time riding the beast because of her stomach pains, and what seemed to be the start of a fever.

"That sounds about right, yes." He finally turned to look at her, with a cheerful face. The slight smiled left his lips as he saw she was sweating and frowning at her horse. "Are you okay?" He slowed his horse to pace beside hers and leaned across carefully, reaching to try and feel her forehead. She swatted his hand away and scowled at him, then put a smile on and nodded.

"I'm just fine. But thank you for asking. My head is just aching a tiny bit, that's all." Though that wasn't all, Nuriko seemed to accept her answer, and sped up again. She watched as Do Chun turned to signal to Nuriko, who urged his horse to rush up ahead. They were out of hearing from where she was with her horse, and she really didn't want her horse to speed up any more, because it would be hell to pay in her stomach and head, so she watched as they whispered between each other.

"What's the matter?" She asked as soon Nuriko had slowed down to go back to his original place just ahead of her. "Someone goin' to attack us? Where?" She looked around, suddenly excited. She had always wanted to try out her fighting skills on someone other than her best friend(who wasn't really much of a fight because Serap didn't choose to work out with weights all the time like Shawana did), so it was exciting to think that maybe she would get to fight someone.

"No, of course no one's going to attack us." He sighed in annoyance and looked back at her, raising his eyebrow at her. "You are in no condition to fight, even if we were attacked, which you know, is a very slim chance, because we are in a secure part of the forest." Just as he was turning to look ahead once more, Shawana watched an arrow zoom by just in front of her eyes.

She felt like laughing evilly at Nuriko(because she had proved him wrong), puking, fainting, and leaping off to fight at the same time. She pushed the feeling of sickness back out of her mind, and ducked, shouting a warning to everyone. Nuriko was already jumping into action, looking towards where the arrow had come from and turning his horse towards the trees. "Everyone to the Priestess!" He shouted to the guards and Do Chun as he galloped into the trees and out of sight.

Shawana had a sudden rush of fear shoot through her as she heard a yell, and another arrow went by. She suddenly how stupid she was acting, just sitting there and wishing to fight, so she quickly turned her own horse and shot through the trees, with her entourage following after.

"Nuriko!" She called as she saw a flash of a horse shooting farther into the dense foliage. She sped her horse and crashed through the under brush. She stopped suddenly as she broke through into a clearing. Nuriko was off of his horse and holding a young man to the ground. "Nuriko, are you okay? Who's he?"

She hopped off of her horse and limped to his side. "What are you holding him down for…Oh is he the one who shot at us?" She had spotted the bow and arrows on the ground next to the boy.

She could barely make out the boys face as he struggled against Nuriko's grip hopelessly. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, with long pure black hair, being held back with a black ribbon, his bangs long and wispy across his right eye.

"I didn't attack you!" He let out in a slightly deeper voice than she would have associated with him if she hadn't heard him. Nuriko nodded to answer her questions and she sighed in exhaustion, leaning against Nuriko's horse.

"If you didn't attack as, then who did?" Nuriko asked exasperatedly, and let the boy up, though he took the bow and arrows. The other guards and Do Chun were surrounding them now, so the boy wouldn't be able to get away anyhow. "And what is your name?"

"Sou Kishuku.." He scowled and stood up, sweeping a large amount of dirt off of the back of his pants. He was about to reply to the other question, but he suddenly looked to the left area of the clearing, and glared at an area Shawana could not make out form her position, so she returned to her horse as quickly as she could and hefted her self up onto it.

"Watch out for her." The boy nodded towards Shawana, and then ran to the tree at the edge of the clearing, where he had been looking. She saw a flash of red as he crept up the tree, using a knife to stab into the trunk and propel himself up. "Oh I don't think so!" He shouted to an unknown person or creature, before leaping out of the tree and onto an invisible form, landing on something that let out a grunt when they impacted with the dirt.

A man dressed in black suddenly appeared underneath the boy, though he was dead already, because Kishuku had used the impact as a chance to stab the man in the heart. He drew the knife out of the body, and cleaned it with his ragged black tunic. As he stood and turned back towards them, Nuriko let out an exclamation of surprise. "What! You…You're one of her..her Seishi!?" He rushed to the boy and pushed the boy's bangs out of his face, revealing the quickly fading red sign on his forehead. "So you were trying to protect her the entire time! But how did you know who she was?"

Do Chun joined them, deftly removing himself from his horse and going to inspect the boy. "He is..Tamahome. And yes. He is one of her Seishi, Nuriko." The boy looked at Do Chun with solemn eyes, before turning to make his way across the clearing and sit on a large rock lying underneath a tree.

**--Meanwhile in Tokyo–--**

"WHAT!?" Taka set the little girl down on to the sofa and grabbed the book out of his wife's hands. "What do you mean they..they….REPLACED me?" He stared angrily at the words on the page relaying the events in the clearing. "They replaced me with some moping teenager!?" He threw the book on the floor and huffed out a sigh before sitting beside his daughter on the sofa.

"Don't forget Taka.. You were a moping teenager when I first met you when I was priestess. And of course the replaced you! How else is she supposed to summon!?"

"They could just take me back in! I've been thinking about Chichiri and Tasuki a lot lately anyways! I want to know how they're doing!"

"Oh yeah. You really want to get stuck going back in the book and possibly getting stuck there…again." Miaka rolled her eyes and went back to reading what was happening out loud as Taka sat there looking emo, while playing with his daughter.

**--Back in the Forest of Konan--**

"Oh yes, you most definitely are coming with us!" Nuriko shouted to the boy, now to be called Tamahome, who was trying to leave the clearing. "If you don't, you will have to answer to the emperor of Konan. As well as me." He flexed his biceps to make this clear. "And not only am I strong.. I'm also fast. Probably faster than you."

Tamahome turned back to them and glared before sighing and picking up his things, which he had thrown to the ground in a rage only moments before. "I have things to do! Money to make!"

"You'll make plenty of money coming with us! I'll get the emperor to pay you for your services!" Shawana spoke u pas she urged her horse to trot over to Tamahome's side. "Jump up?"

He sighed again and scowled at the ground before tying his cluster of arrows onto his back and pulling himself up. "I'll go, but you have to pay me." Shawana laughed and nodded, murmuring that of course they would pay him. Nuriko glared over and pulled himself on to his own horse. They and the guards all tromped back through the forest on to the main trail.

"Great.. Now it's going to take even longer to get to the village.." Shawana grumbled low enough that the only person that could possibly hear her was Tamahome, whom was now seated calmly behind her. Her nausea and headache, as well as slight fever were returning to her now that her adrenaline rush was gone. She fought back the urge to fall back against the boy in exhaustion, and urged her horse ahead of the guards in front of her until she reached the second place in line.

They reached the outskirts of a village about forty minutes later, and Shawana was incredibly grateful, as she fought to keep hold of the reigns through the slick sweat her palms were producing. She felt like she was about to fall off of her horse, and was having trouble concentrating on anything other than trying to stop that from happening, so she didn't notice when Nuriko threw his hands up to halt them from riding further, and kept riding until Tamahome reached forward, around her and grabbed the reigns from her, stopping the horse.

"We're going to ask the villagers some things before we go any further, so stop over there beside the river and take a rest while I go out with him. We should be back within two hours" He motioned for one of the guards to follow as he rode on towards the village. Shawana was thankful they were being given a chance to rest, though she would rather have continued on to the village and gotten a place to sleep.

She slowly climbed down from her horse after they had reached the river edge, and waited for Tamahome to do the same before she tied the horse to the nearest tree and left it to graze. She walked carefully, favoring her injured ankle, over to the river back and sat on the soft grass, lying down with her arms underneath her head. She let her eyes close and listened to the sounds of the water rushing past, with the warm sun shining on her. Even though it was slightly chilly out here in the country, through her robes and all, the sun could still warm her up. She was actually getting too hot by the minute any ways, so the chilly air felt nice.

"She conked out as soon as we stopped.." She heard voices whispering nearby, and opened her eyes to see stars in a big black sky. "No one has bothered her or even touched her though, so don't worry. We figured that we should let her rest for a while." She recognized Do Chun's slightly high voice, and then heard Nuriko mutter something about the fact that they had done well.

She looked to the side and watched as Nuriko walked over and kneeled down. "Shawana, it's time to go in to the village. We can't stay out in the cold all night." She nodded and tried to push herself up, though it failed, and she couldn't even move her arms very much. He watched with his eyebrow raised then snaked his arm underneath her waist before pulling her up.

"You can't possibly be that tired. You didn't do much today.." He murmured in an annoyed way, before letting her sit by herself.

…except..she started to fall backwards again and he quickly grabbed her arms.

"Holy crap, Shawana! Why is your skin so hot?" He used his left arm to hold her up, with it perched around her waist, and set the palm of his right hand against her forehead. "You're burning up. Gees! This isn't a new fever either! Having you had a fever all day?" He picked her up and waited for her to answer. She shook her head at first, but when he scowled at her she sighed and nodded.

"I started getting feverish when we first entered the forest…" She looked to the side and struggled to release herself from his arms.

"Oh I don't think so. If you're as sick as I think you are, you get to stay with me until we get to our inn." She sighed and went limp, murmuring a grumpy reply with some not so nice words in it. He set her on top of his horse and hopped up behind her before she had a chance to sway or fall off again. He held the reigns with one hand, the other around her waist, and rode at the front of the entourage into the village.

They were soon packing all of their things in to a small but trustworthy inn, where they were taking up three rooms. Three guards in one room, Do Chun and Tamahome in one room, and then Nuriko with Shawana in another. At first she wondered about this set up, but she realized that she would need someone there to protect her and make sure she was looked after while she was sick. She didn't mind his company all that much anyhow, so she didn't put up a fight. The only thing she remembered after going to the room in Nuriko's arms was being set down on a big soft bed, with a fire going nearby.

* * *

**A/N**: So there you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope I have the time this coming weekend to write another chapter, but I don't know if I will. I am hoping to get several chapters written in the next few months, though I'm really busy, so I don't know if I can.. Review!


	8. A Blizzard of Fate

**A/N: **Hey ya'll, here's chapter 8! I'm trying to write at a faster pace that two chapters a year. .(I really am sorry about that, guys!), so I'll try to get up another chapter by Christmas, as well!

The thing is, it's not just for the readers that I want to go at a faster pace. I already have ideas for what I want to happen towards the end chapters(and all of the other chapters, even) of this fan fic, and also have a sequel-oneshot written, as well as plans and outlines for a sequel fan fic. But before I add either thing to I'm going to need to finish this one to explain things that are happening in those two…

I'm going to set a goal. I'll try to get this fic finished by the end of 2009, but I can't promise it will happen.

I do not own any of the original characters! Or character ideas: just the characters I've created and the ones based on names from Yuu Watase's wonderful work.

Seraphina belongs solely to 'Cyan Azzura Ri' here on (except for a few things I added to the character), and one character to be introduced in this chapter is loosely based on another of her characters, which she'll know when he reads this chapter. = )

**Anyways, on to chapter 8!**

Seraphina tied a white sash around her waist, using it to hold a bag full of certain things she would need as they traveled, before pulling a thick cloak on, over the robe, and her clothes underneath. Si Fan had lent her a few things and she was very grateful, but she wanted to get out of there that night. It was much preferred by both Seraphina and Tatara that they leave as soon as possible, under the cover of night with Tokaki and two of Si Fan's horses, so that no one following them could track their movements.

_Any sane person would stay the night inside of any shelter possible, rather than face a roaring blizzard, but we aren't exactly the sanest bunch_, Seraphina thought, _so I don't see why we shouldn't leave now._ After pulling on the cloak on she wandered over to help Tatara do the same while Tokaki talked to his mother in the back of the house, very quietly, so neither of the two getting ready to leave could hear them.

A few moments later Tokaki joined them with a sword strapped to his back, wearing warm clothing and footwear with a robe and cloak on as well. "Are you well prepared?" He asked, pulling his hood up as her neared the front door.

"Yes, we can go anytime." Seraphina smiled at him, before tying her hair back into a tight braid at the back of her head and wrapping a fluffy warm scarf around her head like a turban, with only her eyes showing. Tatara and Tokaki did the same as they bid Si Fan goodbye and exited out into the rapidly falling snow, and the twilight. It was not yet full dark out, but dark enough and stormy enough to cover their tracks in whichever direction they went. She quickly pulled her hood up and tugged it forward making sure it was secure, and placed her straw hat on top of that, tying the strings around her neck.

As they entered the stable and got the horses ready, she thought about the fact that she was so bundled and padded, that if she were to fall off a high building all of the fabric on her would probably prevent her death just as well as a soft cushy mattress would. _Now, now. Let's not think about death, Serap, s_he thought to herself as she was guided by Tatara to climb up onto the large black stallion that they would share. It was October 28th that day. She had been keeping track of how many days she had been in that world, and now it was the day that she dreaded to be alone on.

As she was joined atop the horse by Tatara and Tokaki trotted up beside them on a pretty brown mare. "Let's go then, shall we?" Tatara grasped the reigns of the horse, who was also draped in warm blacks underneath the sadly to keep it warm, and headed out of the large stable into the heavily falling snow. "Let's head East towards Sakan, then we'll decided where we go from there." He had explained several locations of different towns within thirty miles of their current location about an hour earlier, and Sakan was fairly close to the border between Konan and Sairo.

Serap(let's just call her that for now!) leaned back against Tatara to help block his front from the snow and provide him a better range of arm movements. "Sounds good to me." She agreed at almost the same time Tokaki did and they set the horses at an easy trot, following the direction of the snow. It was a rather good thing that the snow and wind weren't straight on, or else it would be especially hard on the horses to travel through the current conditions.

Tatara began to talk quietly to her, telling her about the things that he knew from his past that he hadn't already explained. Things like his lost love, and also about the previous Tokaki, were what he spoke about. Though she didn't say much, Serap enjoyed hearing his pleasant voice, and listened intently.

About an hour later, Tokaki announced that they were nearing a soldier's camp, so they had better veer off the road into the countryside. They did so quickly, but avoided the larger dips in the ground that led down a hill to other farms. They passed quietly in the now completely dark night. As they passed the camp Serap tried very hard not to make any sounds, like sneezing because some snow flew up her nose, or kneeing the horse in an attempt to keep her leg from falling asleep. There were camp fires, of course, and some men were sitting around a very large one, not even bothering to notice it was snowing on them, or so she thought until she noticed that they had a roof made of thick cloth held up by poles driven into the ground overhanging them, and stretching out a way, which gathered all of the falling snow.

That now out of her mind, as they urged the horses in a very slow pace around the camp, she couldn't help but notice a very tall man standing by one of the poles, with his arms crossed, looking almost directly at where they currently were. He was probably about six feet, four inches, Serap thought and this itself was enough to make her wary of him. It was rather odd that she felt like she should pay attention to him though.

Long black hair blew back from his face only lightly, in what seemed to be like a breeze, rather than the almost gale that the wind was. He had piercing gold-orange eyes that she could see even from where she sat atop the black horse. She almost seemed to make eye contact with the man.

She noticed that he was very good look, with a long nose, and full mouth and soft jaw line, rather than a burly one like some men she had seen. He was also not dressed for the weather, she thought. He was wearing a very light robe, and didn't seem to be bothered by the cold, in fact he even looked like he was enjoying it. This made her very furious(the fact that he thought nothing of the weather when she felt like she was freezing to death was enough to make her smack him in the head), and she scowled at him.

"Ah-" She was about to gasp in shock, but Tatara clapped a hand over her mouth as she let out a small noise. What had caused her astonishment was that as she had scowled at the man he had raised his eyebrow(his _left_ eyebrow to be exact) and smiled, as if in amusement at her thoughts.

"Oi, Gai! C'mere!" One of the other men in the camp called to the tall raven haired man, who abruptly looked away from her and walked over to the camp fire, speaking quietly to the older man who had called him over.

Serap felt like she could let her breath out finally, and Tatara removed his hand and they finally passed the edge of the camp. She leaned to the side carefully and looked back at the man who had now returned to his previous stance beside the pole. He was watching in the direction they now walked, and seemed once more to make eye contact. Her eyes widened as he slowly lifted his hand and waved.

She sat up straight once more and looked away, towards Tokaki, who gave her a questioning glance, but then turned away. At that point in the night, she really didn't want to be creeped out anymore than she already was.

Suddenly reality swept back upon her as they traveled farther and faster away from the camp, now at a quiet trot, and on the road once more. Serap had completely forgotten about that day, or rather that day three years before's happenings. Now that she remembered it clearly once more, she settled against Tatara and didn't make a peep of noise at all until they reached the town. Tokaki and Tatara made small talk and conversed about other things quite a bit as they walked towards the entrance of Sakan. They were inside the city limits now, so she sat up and blinked away the weariness that came with being very cold.

As they reached the first homey looking inn in town, they stopped and paid for the horses to be taken into the stable. It was fairly full, but there was one room open and it was on with two beds, so it was perfect. Tokaki professed that he generally slept on the floor at home anyhow, since his mother generally ended up sleeping in his bed, rather than in bed with his father, so it was decided that he would sleep on a futon next to the fire.

A while later as Serap finished washing up and carefully brushed her damp hair with the brush that Si Fan had lent her, Tatara sat on the bed next to her own and watched her. Tokaki already slept near the fire, the slow steady breathing very calming to both of those listening. Her emotions were becoming very obvious, now that it was evening. It had been around this time that she had received the news, that day..

"Seraphina, I have something to ask you.." Tatara spoke in a low, warm sounding voice, as if he knew that it would help her feel better. She looked up from brushing her hair, carefully trying to blink away the tears that had sprung to her eyes as she had thought. "You've seemed very distant all evening.. Is there something the matter?"

Serap, smiled the most she could(which happened to be very little) towards him, and set the brush on the bed side table. "Oh.. It's just something from a long time ago coming back to haunt me.. Nothing really.." She sighed and reached up with her hand to wipe away one tear that had escaped her eye.

"Don't fool with me. I know that you've been fighting off strong emotion all day. Please just tell me. Isn't it better to share emotions, rather than hide them all away forever?" Tatara reached over and wiped away another of her tears.

For some reason this action just made her want to tell him her trouble. Slowly, she was beginning to feel like he was her older brother, or they had a relationship similar to that. She didn't speak for a few minutes, but instead watched the flames from the fire. Tatara didn't say anything more and simply sat there with a waiting look on his face.

"..It's just.. Three years ago today.. Something bad happened.." Tatara motioned for her to continue, so she sighed and wiped away another tear, though she was already starting to feel a little better. "My father and brother and two sisters died in an accident.. They were coming to the home I was staying at with one of my friends(the one I want to find, Shawana), because they had just gotten news about my grandmother's death in Japan. And.. Well, they and Shawana's parents got into a car crash on slick roads, because it was raining. Shawana's parents were on their way home from work, and all of them, her parents and my family died.

I just have these sad feelings every time this day comes around, I can't help it. Shaw got over it a while ago, and accepted the fact that her parents were dead, but I was really close with my family, especially my older brother, so I have a hard time."

Tatara stared at her with large eyes at first, but his gaze softened and he reached over once more, this time to brush his hand down her hair. Nothing that bad had ever happened to him, so he couldn't even figure how bad it must feel to have lost so many people dear to you. "I'm..So sorry, Sera." She looked up with watery eyes at the name he called her and was about to say something, but he 'shh'ed at her, and she kept silent. He waited for her tears to stop(oh, about five minutes or so), then he smiled.

"Can I..hug you?" Serap asked slowly, raising her palms in a questioning gesture. Tatara looked shocked at first, but then he stood up and nodded, with another smile on his face. She stood and hugged his neck, her face resting against his shoulder. "Thank you for listening, Tatara. And please, call me Sera from now on." Sera had been what her brother had always called her when she was younger, so it was a familiar, and warming name to her-like her most precious nick name.

They stood like that for a moment, him hugging her back after a bit, then they each got into their separate beds, and Serap fell asleep almost instantly. Tatara lay in bed for a while waiting for sleep to come to him. He kept on wondering why he suddenly felt so protective, not only in a guardian type way, but in a family type way towards his priestess.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

They got on the road early the next morning, after a rushed breakfast in the front room of the inn, and a quick stop at the early opening market. They picked up some dried meats and some fruits and vegetables, as well as some flat bread, which they stored in a saddle bag next to Serap's leg. As they were leaving town through the gate on the southern side of town, the country side had to be surveyed before they went too far in the wrong direction. They rode in a Southern direction for about an hour until they were well out of town, then they stopped in a snowy area below a large tree next to the road. It was hardly what could be called breezy out but still snow was flowing down from the sky, at a slower tempo than the night before.

Tokaki pulled out a rather beaten looking map and laid it on a rock which they had just cleared a large mound of snow from. "I think we should head in this direction-" Serap wasn't paying attention, because she could just ask later as to where they were headed. Instead she had wandered down the road about what would be a block in her world, and was watching some birds fly by across the sky, heading in the same direction they had been.

Just then a sound startled her and she whipped around, looking in the direction they had just come from. There was a figure on a horse galloping in their direction, and also she was beginning to feel faint, and slightly nauseous, like she was going to puke. She collapsed on the ground and let out a slight yell towards Tatara and Tokaki, who were rushing to the horses, Tatara looked in her direction and told Tokaki to grab both horse, before racing in her direction. He reached her just as the rider on the galloping horse stopped next to her.

"Sera! Are you okay?" He quickly knelt and snaked his arms around her, pulling her up as he stood and faced the stranger. Through the haze that nausea brought to her and the snow, Serap saw black-blue hair wisping around the tall stranger's face, and golden eyes staring at her.

"I'm okay, I just felt tired and sick all of the sudden." Tatara who was staring suspiciously at the man, didn't even really listen to her, instead he nodded his head in the direction of Tokaki, who rode up with the horses, and held her up. Tokaki dropped the horse reigns and took Serap from Tatara, holding her up in a sitting position on the horse.

"Why stranger, what causes you to be in such a hurry to get out of town this morning?" Tatara asked the man in a solid, no nonsense type of tone. He climbed atop his horse without waiting for an answer. Serap watched as the man got off of his horse and came to stand next to her and Tokaki's horse, and she sat up with her own strength pushing away Tokaki's arm.

"I've come to join your party. I intended to leave on my own to find someone that calls for my aid, but when I saw that you all were heading into town stealthily last evening (yes you should learn to be more careful for I saw you the moment you came towards the camp), I felt like it was the right thing for me to do. Travelling with such a group as you should be a good idea, I thought, so this morning I deserted my camp and came after you." The man stood with his arms clasped across his chest and he was so casual about standing he seemed to lean on the air itself around him. "My name is Gai Pher Ahn. You can call me Phiran if should accept my will and allow me to travel with you. I also sometimes go by the name Kokie, when it strikes my fancy."

Serap nodded and looked at Tatara, who was still looking at him with distrust. "I think he should come. Besides, if he wanted to kill us he could have done it last night while were near his camp. There were plenty of men around to call upon us." Tatara raised his eyebrows in surprise at her and watched her flushed face as if waiting to make sure she really meant it. "I believe him, and I feel him to be a good person."

Tatara finally nodded and motioned down the road. "We are head Southward, and then into no man's land, where there is no shelter and no food for miles, I hope you brought provisions for yourself."

Phiran nodded and climbed back onto his horse. "I brought plenty of food for myself and others. As well as blankets, clothes, and water."

That was that and soon they were off onto the road again. None had yet noticed that through the fabric of Phiran robe, and upon the skin of his torso lay a small white-ish blue tattoo.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Night had already come to the sky in another part of the country. A land where icicles were common upon every object that lay within its realm. Flurries of snow fell in every which direction, blowing into the lands surrounding this small country. The small _forgotten_ country.

There lay a large house, where once you have entered it, it was up to the owner whether you leave or not.

A malicious set of blue eyes stared out the window. Long nails clacked on the windowsill as she sat there watching her glorious element freeze everyone in the world. Long white hair was shaken back as the woman stood, clothed in nothing but her own loveliness, and walked across the room; there in the hearth of her home, there was a fire. But it was not a normal fire. It was a fire that drew away the energy of the world, instead of giving energy and heat to everything around it.

This woman dwelled in the coldest land of the world, where everything basked in the cold. The frigid air in her castle was enough even to make the blood in one's body freeze if they were there too long. But this did not phase her. She lived to be cold. She lived to bring awareness to her small country.

Not just to her country.

"My lady," She was torn away from her brooding about the coldness of her world as a figure dressed in black and gold appeared in a flash beside her. "They are being tracked now. We will report once every day with findings about the supposed new Byakko no Miko. They are travelling Southward, away from here."

The woman smiled a cold smiled and looked at the man, causing him to shiver with the coldness of her gaze. Not a cold emotion, but the feeling of his being freezing up almost like becoming a human statue of ice. "Thank you, Liuan. Your job is now finished. Soon Kirin, the god of Steel, the god of all things cold, the true god will rule over his siblings once more." She smiled once more, her melodic voice ringing in the ice chamber, and then tapped his body once. In an instant his body fell into a pile at her feet. She knelt at stared at the pile, running her hand through what lay there. It was not blood, not flesh, not anything gruesome. It was simply a pile of snow. A soul fluttered up from the pile and up towards the ceiling above a tapestry on the wall. It was a tapestry of a palace, filled and made with ice sculptures of what looked to be woman. From behind the tapestry came a growl and then the spirit was sucked behind the tapestry.

She waved good bye staring with her unblinking eyes, a slight smile on her face, knowing that she would never come across that soul again. Her gaze was drawn towards the window where she once again watched the snow falling past the window.

It was only a matter of time, she thought, until they would fall into her hands and the land would belong to her and her lover. The vision of a small group of people, one with long red hair, one with long green hair, one with silver hair, and one with dark blue hair filled her vision. She saw that one of them was sick, making her smile, and she willed the snow to fall even more than it was. "Oh yes, soon, Byakko no Miko, you will be mine."

**A/N:** I hope you liked this chapter! I enjoyed writing it very much! Review!


	9. Can you say 'Kiss me?

**A/N: **Oh boy, it's so nice to see this so soon! I have a whole lot of inspiration, and I'm aiming to provide you guys with another few chapters! How'd ya'll like the last chapter?

Oh wait, you're all supposed to tell me by way of review! So go answer my question! And while you're at it review on this chapter once you're done reading it as well!

I do not own any of the original characters.

I do own in this story:

The characters based on names from the original story:

Nuriko, Tatara, Boushin, Tamahome, Tokaki, Do Chun(You'll find out later who he is. =D), and many more to come.

The characters and names:

Shawana, Seraphina(Or rather, I own a few little things I've added to her life and personality), Phiran(Except for a few things that Cyan originally came up with for him), The evil lady, Liuan- and many more to come.

**On to Chapter 9!**

"Oh my, that's just so creepy!" Miaka set the book down on the coffee table in the middle of Serap and Shawana's living room. She had just finished reading out a small chapter that had suddenly appeared, about a lady of ice and her thoughts about the cold and ice. "I can't read stuff like that in front of our daughter! I think we should get some dinner, Taka." Miaka grabbed Taka's hand and pulled him off the couch.

"Hey! Why are you throwing me onto the floor?" Taka, now on his hands and knees on the ground, with his wife grasping his shirt sleeve to drag him back up to his feet, scowled up at his wife, before sighing and standing and slipping his arm around her shoulders. "I agree on both accounts, however. No reading scary stories to our children, and indeed, we all need food. Especially you." He grinned at her, once again acting like the boy he had been when he had first met her, and quickly ran to the kitchen to get some food out of Serap's fridge.

They would replace anything that they ate, Taka said to himself in his head, and then he started cooking up a feast for his wife, knowing that if anything important happened in the book, it would still be there when they got back. This of course, coming from the voice of experience.

In the living room the book sat untouched for a while, laying on the coffee table, minding its own business.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Heavy breathing came from the figure lying in the bed with lots of blankets piled atop her. Nuriko sat next to the bed, wiping her forehead with a wet cloth as he watched her fight her way through the sickness that wracked her body.

"I don't know how I'm so-" Shawana stopped talking for a moment to cough and breath once more, trying to stop her insides from hurting as much by concentrating on breathing. "-so sick. I never get sick. I spent years building up immunities." She had spent a lot of time out on farmlands back home in America, where she never had any fancy shots to give her the immunity to a sickness; instead she just fought off every sickness she caught. Ever since she had come to Japan, she had spent a great deal of time in public places, like schools, and gyms, and hadn't gotten sick once, unless you count the occasional chest cold! This seemed to be an illness unknown to her, but she didn't know how she could have gotten it just by being out in the cold.

"Shh. No need to speak." Nuriko said this in a quiet, very handsome sounding(or so Shawana thought) tone. She watched him dab her forehead and neck and the top of her chest, which was bared by her night clothes, with the cold, wet cloth, his hand occasionally meeting her skin. His skin was very warm to the touch, not so very much different from her own currently, but he wasn't sick, so his must have been like that naturally.

In reality, the calm and silent Nuriko who dabbed away her sweat was actually worried about his Priestess. From what she had said, it seemed like she almost never became sick from illnesses in her own land, so what could be causing her to be so sick.

There was a clatter outside the room and then a knock on the door, which then opened slowly. Do Chun peeked his head in and muttered that he was sorry for knocking over Shawana's walking sticks that had been against the wall outside the door. Shawana smiled, closed her eyes and attempted to go to sleep. It was still dark outside, but the sky was beginning to lighten into the grey that came before dawn. She listened as Do Chun came to switch with Nuriko so that he could have a turn caring for his Priestess while Nuriko slept.

Shawana fell asleep, but was only out for about half an hour, as when she opened her eyes the sun was just rising from the horizon, the sky through her window a palette of pink, yellows, and oranges. As she awoke, a sharp erupted from her insides once more, and she let out a sharp sounding gasp. It suddenly felt like her insides were ripping apart, or burning, or being cut into pieces by a sharp knife, or something gory and painful like that.

Do Chun who had been refilling the bowl of water that the cloth was soaked in turned and sat next to her once more. "Are you okay, Priestess?" Shawana couldn't help but find something odd about the way he looked so much more mature than a fifteen year old boy, and his voice sounded odd, but the pain suddenly stopped her from thinking about anything other than breathing. She laid her head to the side, and then realized there was something pricking her neck. She flinched and turned her head straight forward again.

Do Chun had seen her flinch, and he quickly leaned over and helped her take her earrings out. She had two sets of golden studs in both ears that she had completely forgotten about on her trip. She was so used to wearing them that she had forgotten to take them out both times she had slept in this world. As the earrings were removed from her ears and set on the table beside her, in another area of that world another person stopped feeling nauseous and ill.

Do Chun looked at the earrings carefully, and almost unnoticeably reached up to feel his own ear, which Shawana could barely see underneath his wispy brown hair. He quickly used his fingers to brush his hair back from his face as if to cover what he had been doing. Shawana didn't say anything though, because she felt like it was hard enough to breath currently, and she quickly started concentrating on doing so. Suddenly blackness appeared before her eyes and she ceased to sense anything.

"_Oh yes, soon, Byakko no Miko, you will be mine." _

The voice Shawana heard was very beautiful, and sounded almost like melodic music being played with the most pleasant sounding instrument. It came from a very pale, nude woman with long white hair who stood next to a window. Snow was blowing past the window in what seemed to be bucket loads every second.

'Byakko? But I'm not of Byakko. I'm the Suzaku no Miko..' Shawana thought to herself as she watched the woman stand there and watch the snow. Except, suddenly the woman wasn't standing in the great room of a building, but in a meadow filled with snow.

"Hello Priestess of Byakko. Welcome to my pleasant home." The woman said once again in her melodic voice. As Shawana turned to see whom she spoke, she gasped. A familiar figure with long pinkish red hair stood with a group of people behind her, all wielding weapons and all on horses. Fourteen people were behind her on horses. A few of them she knew to be her own seishi, and others seemed familiar to her, though she had never seen them before. "So many friends? I have no the room in my home for so many." The woman snapped her fingers and several men in outfits of black and gold lept forward from the trees surrounding the snowy meadow.

"Shawana, wake up.." The pleasant voice that came from someone she knew all too well called her back into the real world, away from a terrible dream. She opened her eyes and saw Nuriko watching her with a worried expression while he held her shoulders. "I'm sorry to wake you, but you were about to fling yourself straight off the bed!" Shawana stared without blinking for a moment, then a new round of pain through her body caused her to flinch and she shook his hands away.

"This man is here to help with your healing. He's the local doctor." Shawana looked past Nuriko's body in front of her and saw a very tall, good looking man with short, black hair pulled back by two colored ties wrapped around his forehead.

She gasped and pointed, letting the blankets fall from her arms. "It's you! You were in my dreams. All of us were! Tamahome, Boushin, Do Chun, you, Nuriko, and two others were also there! There was also another Miko, as well as her seven seishi." Shawana said all of this so fast the others in the room could barely catch it.

The man smiled and shooed Nuriko(who still stared at her in surprise) from the bed, where he then sat. "What you saw was a vision, not a dream. I recognize your actions quite well. Dreams do not cause you to act so violently in sleep unless very bad things are happening in them. Visions appear before your eyes only when they include the future or past of someone you love, or are very close to." The man had a very nice sounding voice, which she supposed was good for a doctor to have. "You saw your seishi, Priestess. And something that will happen in the future. I am Myo Juan. Or rather that was the name of my former being. I go by Mitsukake, just as the previous Mitsukake did before me."

Without waiting for her to say anything(because it probably would have taken a bit, what with her shock and her trying to concentrate only on breathing) her placed one hand on her forehead, and his other hand on her chest.

"Hey!" Nuriko exclaimed his dislike of Mitsukake's actions. Shawana turned her scowling gaze to him as if telling him to shut up. He closed his mouth and crossed his arms, walking over to hover just behind Mitsukake.

A glowing red light surrounded Mitsukake's hands and Shawana suddenly felt as if the pain were leaving her body. Soon there was no pain left, and she felt very drowsy. When the healer removed his hands from her, Shawana saw a red tattoo glowing on his left palm. "You really are my seishi.." She murmured. She wouldn't have said that if she had been less tired, but drowsiness bought out the worst in her and caused her to talk without thinking most of the time.

"That wasn't an ordinary sickness, Priestess. Something was poisoning you. I would look through your belongings, it's probably something small that would fit into a man's palm or smaller." Mitsukake said this in a low tone before standing and walking towards the door.

Nuriko quickly replaced Mitsukake in the spot beside her on the bed, and he grasped her hands, gently tucking them underneath the blankets. Shawana couldn't help but notice him more than ever now that he was fully in her vision, and the fact that she had developed feelings for him over the two days before didn't help her sanity. "You're so beautiful, Ryuuen. Your eyes are like the pink coral in a necklace I have back home…" Her eyes were becoming heavier, but she still saw him stare at her with wide eyes, a blush appearing on his cheeks. "I'm glad you're here." And then she closed her eyes as everyone but Nuriko left the room.

"I'm glad to be here.." She heard in a soft voice as the door closed behind Tamahome, who had left last of all. She let her breathing fall into a steady rhythm as she fought off the urge to let sleep come to her. She wanted to hear what he had to say. Just as she was falling into the hands of her pursuer, however, she heard him speak up again. "You are more beautiful than me, Priestess. Your appearance itself makes me believe spring will come again, or that it's already here."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Miaka dropped the book once more, grinning at Taka through a mouth full of food. She had been attempting to tell what was happening to her husband while they ate, but was more successful in spitting food half way across the table.

"Okay, what's with the grin, Miaka?" Taka raised his eyebrow as he placed some carrot slices on their daughter's plate, the little girl sitting next to them and listening to an mp3 player that was playing bubbly Japanese pop music just loud enough that she couldn't hear what her parents were saying. This was a cautionary technique that Taka had come up with a while back. Generally he was saying things to his wife that his daughter shouldn't hear though, like comments about certain things she had said the night before during one of those special times parents spent with each other, or other such things. Miaka didn't exactly like the fact her husband did this quite often because of his own wants. Sometimes she enjoyed speaking with her daughter during dinner.

"I said," She gave him that 'annoyed wife' look before taking a drink of water and continuing. "-that Mitsukake just showed up, and Shawana isn't sick anymore! Sounds just like our old friend too." She gave him a heartwarming(to him anyhow) smile as she thought about their past, and their friends from inside the book. "Can I continue now?" Taka nodded and motioned for his wife to continue reading out the words that were still only sprouting into being on the pages ahead.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Mmn." Shawana stretched her arms out above her head, opening her eyes to see full light outside the window, through the snow that was falling very lightly. It was probably about noon, or an hour later. For some reason she just felt that it was great to be alive. This was probably due to the fact that she had been very sick only hours before, but she didn't exactly feel like thinking about such bad topics at that time.

She was about to throw her blankets off and sit up, but then she realized there was someone sleeping part way across her. Nuriko was breathing in and out at a slow, calming pace, his hair wisping across his half hidden face as he slept with his head part way on her lap, and arms lying on either side, bent near his head. She grinned and reached up, tucking her own hair behind her ear, as it had gotten out of the ponytail that she had put in the night before when she had struggled to get ready for bed. Very slowly, she moved his head farther down her lap, and carefully sat up, making sure she didn't jostle him as she did so. His face was very peaceful and beautiful as he slept, and she couldn't help the flush of red that crept up to her cheeks as she watched him sleep.

He clenched his hands and moaned in his sleep, his forehead developed small wrinkles as he frowned. She quickly brought her hand up to his head(almost not even realizing what she was doing), and stroked his hair, pushing back the strands that fell ever so gently onto his cheek and nose. He moaned again, but his hands unclenched from the fabric and he seemed to have a calm over him again. She ran her index finger across his hairline ever so softly, feeling his soft and smooth skin on her own, and then down his cheek, noticing the curving of his cheekbone against his skin.

His nose was straight and slightly tipped on end, giving him a slightly feminine look, and the beauty mark next to his left eye made her smile, though she didn't know why. As her finger crossed his face from feature to feature, gently landing on his full lips(She noticed quite well how soft they were too!) his wrinkled forehead slowly smoothed over once more and his breathing became slow and steady. She leaned forward slowly and used her thumb instead of her index finger to run across his bottom lip, and then his top lip as she did so. She stopped moving as she hovered right over the top of him, almost bent double, and then she ever so carefully moved his head to a more friendly position. He muttered something in his sleep, but didn't awaken.

_I've always wanted to do this._ She thought to herself as she leaned down the rest of the way and her lips neared his. The feeling of his soft lips against hers made her blush even more than she had moments before. She could feel his breath, warm and steady, against her lips as she kissed him, and then she closed her eyes, letting the moment fill her up a personal kind of happiness. She had feelings for him, but she had known him for only a few days. Though, that was not uncommon in novels, especially romance novels, which she almost wished she were in.

Suddenly she was brought back into the real world from her thoughts as the steady breathing ceased and she could feel the other set of lips involved in the kiss move against her own. They kissed her back and brought another sense of passion into the kiss. Never once opening her eyes she brought her hands up to his neck and sat up, bringing his lips with her, not wanting to let go or open her eyes and find it all to be a dream or some hallucination brought on by sickness.

This time when she leaned, she leaned backward and she could feel the other person involved climb fully on top of her and grasp the back of her head, kissing her more fiercely than before, with more passion, brought on by more emotion than just lust. This was a personal kiss, not a lustful kiss. She encountered lustful kisses before, having had two or three boyfriends before.

Shawana opened her eyes as she drew back from the kiss for breath(who would have thought; You actually need air to live!), and saw the large, orange-ish pink eyes she knew too well staring at her full of emotion, with messy purple hair hanging near her face. She sucked in air ever so slowly before his lips were on hers again, and those beautiful eyes were closed. She longed to see them looking at her again, but instead she closed her own eyes and kissed him back. Then his lips were gone and she felt them reappear against her skin just below her ear, and then at her temple, his hands on either side of her head, brushing gently through her hair, which was spread across the bed around her.

Once again, she opened her eyes to watch him as he kissed along her face and chin and neck, everywhere but her lips until once again that's where he was focused. He deepened the kiss, tugging gently on her lips with his own, breathing deeply each time their lips parted from each other. Getting fed up, Shawana pushed against him and caused him to flip over, so she could have free movement. She took her chance to look into his eyes(Those big pretty ones!), and lowered herself down against his chest, her body pressed entirely against his, and she reached up to push back his hair from his flushed face. There was no need to say anything between the two of them, because it was a time to be silent, or so she thought, and apparently he did too.

Just as she was leaning down to kiss him once more, their lips barely touching, the door opened and Tamahome stepped in before he fully realized the situation in the room at the moment. Fast as lightning, Nuriko was out from under Shawana and sitting in the chair beside the bed and Shawana had jumped off the bed, which she was now pulling the blankets(the ones that had fallen off the bed; funny isn't it, how that happened?) across, and hiding her face by letting her long red hair hang around like a curtain.

When she was sure that her face was mostly pale again, she looked up and saw Tamahome with a raised eyebrow, watching the two of them suspiciously. He set down the tray of breakfast foods on her bed, now back to looking like a normal one, rather than a completely messed up one, and turned. "I think we should stay in town today. There is an army moving through town and out in the same direction we're going, so it's best of we let them get a head start before we try to go around them."

Without another word he exited the room, snapping the door shut very loudly behind him. Shawana sat down near the head of the bed and looked over at Nuriko. He was looking at her as well, which caused her to blush. She felt all warm and fluffy inside, but at the same time, she felt like she was going to pass out because of the embarrassment of kissing someone who hadn't known what she was doing at first.

_What happened to my courage! Did it just float away with the interrupter of our mood?_ She looked down from Nuriko to the food then back up shyly, reaching up to brush her fingers through her hair. She looked at the bedside and was about to get up and grab her brush, but Nuriko beat her to it.

He sat down next her, with his leg pulled up on the bed in front of him, and moved the breakfast food to the chair he had just been sitting on. "Here, let me." He smiled and motioned for her to turn away from him, which she then did. She was going to tell him that he didn't have to brush her hair for her, but ten she figured he wouldn't have offered in the first place if he hadn't wanted to.

There was silence for a few moments as she listened to him breathe and flinched when he brushed a particularly painful knot in her hair(No doubt from their actions previous rather than from her hours of sickness last night). When he finished, he set the brush down but set his hand on her shoulder, holding her still so she didn't move from her current position.

"Why did you kiss me?" He asked simply in a soft tone, while he ran his fingers back and forth along her shoulder blades, causing her to shiver. He leaned forwards and leaned his cheek against the back of her head, smelling the sweet scent of the soap she had used the morning previous in her hair. He brushed her hair to one side, throwing it over her left shoulder so it was out of the way. He didn't want to admit it to her in words, but her kissing him had caused his emotions to untangle themselves(for he had been trying to keep them to himself in a tangled knot inside his body with the emotions that came from being her guard) and burst forth from his body.

"I don't know.." Shawana muttered, turning her head towards him, so his cheek was again hers instead of against her hair. "I just had a sudden urge. I felt like it would help you sleep better, because you were having a bad dream.." He could tell she was only partially lying, as he turned his head so his nose brushed her cheek. He could faintly remember the bad dream she had been talking about, but it had flown away from his consciousness the moment her kiss had awoken him. She turned her body towards him and reached up without even looking to see if it was okay, and traced her finger across his hairline like she had done only a little while before. For some reason, Nuriko seemed to feel calmer than he had a moment before, as if her touch brought a sense of rightness about everything to him.

As she brought her finger down from his hairline to rest on the tip of his nose he grinned and pushed her down on to the bed, kissing her full on the lips not unlike before, about to take it even further, until Shawana shoved him off of her. "Sorry, but I'm hungry for food too. Not that your lips aren't wonderfully delicious, but I was sick all night so I never had any supper." Nuriko laughed at her choice, but allowed her to get up, before he rolled over, with his arms crossed beneath his head.

"Are you going to eat?" Shawana asked him as she picked up the tray from the chair and set it between them on the bed. She already had a bite of strawberry filled pastry in her mouth, so her words were slightly muffled, but he nodded and sat up, grabbing a pastry from the plate of such things on the tray. He watched her as she shoveled food into her mouth, eating as much as a man generally would. He didn't actually have an appetite at the moment. Or rather, he didn't have an appetite for food, but he figured he should probably eat or else he may end up becoming too weak to continue through the day, as he had gotten only four hours of sleep. He had stayed up for a couple of hours after Shawana had fallen asleep.

When they were done with breakfast, Shawana left him to clean up their mess and she grabbed some clothes before exiting the room and going to ask the owner of the inn for a pass into the private bathing room. It was only for rich patrons, but since she had lots of money to spend(due to Boushin being worried about her welfare), she was able to acquire the wanted pass. She felt dirty after being sick all day yesterday and during the night, so she scrubbed her body thoroughly with soap with a fruity scent. After she was done washing her body and hair in the heated bath, she dried and clothed herself before heading back to her room with the dirty clothes under her arm. She stared after Do Chun who passed her with a slight bow, heading to where she had just been, for a moment, then jogged up the stairs to the top floor.

She enjoyed jogging now that her body was entirely healed, and her ankle no longer protested. She threw the door open to her room and grinned at Nuriko before she went over and started taking her things out of her pack and setting them on the bead. "Time to find that mysterious object, since I have nothing else to do." She motioned him over from the fire, and he joined her quickly, inspecting each of the things she had brought with her from the palace, except for her clothing, which she inspected by herself since it was not the best idea for him to be handling her clothing at the current time. Else they may end up in a precarious kind of situation, seeing as all of the other people in the building were very able to come walking in at any moment.

"Aha!" Nuriko let out an exclamation as he picked up a small ring that Shawana didn't recognize at all from the things she had laid out on the bed. "I don't recognize this as something you packed." He would know. She had packed under his watchful eye, just so he could be sure she didn't bring anything unneeded. "Where you get this?" He held it very carefully, and then set it on a cloth napkin left from their breakfast. It was a silver band inset with a single blue sapphire, and it felt cold to the touch. Not just a normal type of cold, but the kind of cold that chilled you deep down, all the way through you body and bones. Shawana brushed her body against Nuriko's carelessly, and touched the ring for just a short moment with her index finger on her right hand, and then backed up, blackness taking over her vision as it had at dawn that morning.

_She lost the sense from all of her body for what seemed like minutes; maybe longer, and then she saw a scene ahead of her. Once again it was a snowy scene. Two figures lay in the snow, and a blizzard blew more on to them. She couldn't see who the figures were, because both of them were almost covered in snow. She saw one, lying next to the other, and bigger(probably a man), push themselves up, though it seemed very difficult because his arm gave out half way through moving. The figure moved over the top of the other, and hugged it, speaking in what was probably the loudest voice he could through the cold. She could barely hear the voice, but she caught the word 'protect' and the word 'love' before she saw the figure collapse entirely onto the other._

_There was a flash of red light around the two figures and she was once again senseless, black the only thing she saw. "Two spirits will become one in a time of mortal danger. Remember to love, remember to live."_

She was thoroughly confused by the words from the source-less voice as she felt her face being breathed on. "Wake up!" She opened her eyes to see those lovely features on Nuriko's face and she smiled, and then quickly snapped back into awareness. She glanced around her surroundings. It had been maybe a minute or two at the most since she blacked out, and she was being held against Nuriko's chest. He had an arm underneath her shoulders and another underneath her thighs, and he was hugging her very close. A lot closer than he would have been yesterday, or even that morning, she was sure. "What's the matter? Why'd you faint?" He looked very caring and worried. Shawana frowned and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I don't know. I just had some sort of vision again." She told him about it, but he didn't put her down, he just kept staring into her eyes, as she was basically face to face with him, holding her close to himself. He seemed to find the vision a very mysterious thing at first but then he just shook the feelings off and shook his head.

"No matter what happened in your vision, you need to make sure that you stop having these visions unless they are related to your own future, because every time you black out it seems to me like your going to die or something." In fact it felt like his heart had stopped beating when he had watched her suddenly fall to the floor next to him without any explanation. At first he had thought the ring had killed her, which made him also feel terribly embarrassed when he had felt for her pulse and felt a thumping heartbeat in her neck. He didn't want to admit it but he had almost been scared to death.

After many minutes and much consoling, Shawana convinced him to put her down, and they repacked her things, keeping the ring in a pouch made of the cloth napkin, inside of Nuriko's waist band, so he wouldn't forget to show it to the others. She was still trying to figure out how the ring had gotten into her things, before she remembered finally. "Ah! On the way out of Eiyou, there was an old lady.. She wandered up to my horse while we were waiting for that wagon train to pass by us, and she and I spoke a few words with her patting my horse! She was patting the horse right near where my pack was!" She snapped her fingers and placed one on her chin as she spoke, whisking her robe's skirt back and forth as she walked across the room to grab her things. They weren't going to stay very long in that inn. Instead they would move to an inn closer to the edge of town, where they were much less noticed than in the center of town.

Do Chun came to help pack Shawana's things down to the horses while Tamahome paid the inn keeper for the stay with her money. They rode away from that inn within minutes; she was sitting behind Nuriko on his horse, as she had lent her to Tamahome for the journey. The teenager preferred to be alone rather than with a random woman whom he had only met the day before. She looked back at the inn as they made their way away from it. She would forever have one wonderful memory from that place, and many bad ones, but no matter what, the inn would always be imprinted upon her memory.

They spent the day gathering a few more things that they would need, like blankets and extra food for when they left town, and then they all stayed in a slightly smaller inn than the one before, joking and having a small feast with the inn owner and his wife.

**A/N: **Now I ask, how awesome is this!? You guys get two chapters in the course of 24 hours. And I enjoyed writing them a ton. Especially that one particular scene towards the middle of this chapter. =D But what girl doesn't enjoy writing a scene about making out, I ask you?

Anyways, if you guys enjoyed this chapter, even a little, then I say, review!


	10. BONZAI!

**A/N: **Wow, fast! I'm updating again! I'm planning to make this a filler chapter, but it may change later into something more plot-filled.

**Edit: **It would have been fast, anyways, except I didn't have access to this computer for about two months. Sorry all. :( I now have a kinda sorta clear idea of what I'm going to write in this chapter, but it's not for sure. Any spelling errors, I blame on the new keyboard which I am not used to.

**Enjoy!**

I do not own any of the original characters.

However, I do own in this story:

The characters based on names from the original story:

Nuriko, Tatara, Boushin, Tamahome, Tokaki, Do Chun(You'll find out later who he is. =D), and many more to come.

The characters and names:

Shawana, Seraphina(Or rather, I own a few little things I've added to her life and personality), Phiran(Except for a few things that Cyan originally came up with for him), The evil lady, Liuan- and many more to come.

For future reference:

I imagine the peoples from the four countries as a mix of Koreans and Chinese, rather than Japanese. This explains names and some words they might use from those two languages.

**Replies to reviews:**

PoruPoru:

I'm glad you liked the kiss scene, but you'll just have to wait and see, regarding your last comment in your review. =)

Archer Ri-chan

I have a sort of clear idea about what you are speaking, but mostly I have no clue about some parts. o.o

Anyways, Do Chun's identity will be revealed soon-ish, but not until the next Shawana chapter, or the chapter after that. Sera isn't falling in love with anyone yet, though it seems a little like that, I guess. She's mainly developing close-family feelings towards Tatara. I'm going on a this-writer-has-six-older-brothers kind of basis, so I'm making her act with her brothers the way I would with my brothers if I were in her situation.

Anyways, I like your review, and I hope many more people will post comments like this!

Suzuna:

I'm glad you think so highly of my writing. ^_^

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This chapter is being entirely made up as I go, because I have almost no inspiration other than a few minute (This being my-nüte, not minute as in time)ideas, but I just don't want to let you guys down, and not update for a long time! So anyways, on to the real writing!

**Here's Chapter 10!**

Sera's head nodded slowly as she tried to sleep, leaning back against Tokaki's chest. The sudden illness that had overtaken her body had drained most of her energy from her body, causing her to feel drowsy so suddenly she had trouble keeping herself from falling asleep. She didn't want to be a burden though, so she didn't say anything the few times she woke from her dazed sleep in pain.

They had been on the road for about three or four hours, stopping only once, for a short midday meal(which Sera happened to sleep through, though she was very hungry), and now they were very close to the wilderness, where they would be for the coming days, weeks, and possibly months(though that might just have been her mind exaggerating, as there wasn't even enough land in that country to keep them somewhere for months if they really wanted to leave).

The snow came down faster and harder than it had the day before, and somehow managed to find it's way into Sera's cloak, causing her to wake suddenly from her daze. She stared around for a moment, before realizing she had fallen asleep again. They had reached the wilderness, and were traveling through heavier snow. The lighting and placement of the sun in the cloudy sky told her it was probably around three or four in the afternoon.

They were riding up a slightly steep embankment above a camp that was in the middle of nowhere. There were six people around a small campfire that was made just beside a small tent in the middle of the encampment. A young woman sat farthest from them; face forward over the top of the flame, with her hands over the fire. Long dark brown hair was plaited and hung down over her shoulder, tied by a plain brown ribbon. Sera noticed that the woman had very pretty facial features, and large brown eyes, though she was not made up at all with anything fake on her face; only her natural appearance was showing.

There was also an older man who looked like an older, manlier version of the young woman, and an older woman who had slightly lighter hair and less attractive features. A boy that looked to be a year or two younger than the young woman, a younger girl, and an even younger boy(_Probably only about five or six_, Sera thought.) , also sat around the fire, huddled in thick robes of rough looking brown material.

As they brought their horses along the top of the hill above the camp, Sera thought she saw a flicker of movement behind the tent near the family. "Tatara!" She whispered in a sharp hiss towards her seishi, who looked at her and nodded, before turning his horse in its path and starting down the slight incline. Sera ignored the searing pains from her insides and urged Tokaki to go down after Tatara as a man dressed in black lept from behind the tent, oblivious to the fact that others were watching the scene unfold.

Tatara yelled a warning, causing the family to all look around, and in turn jump up and try to run from the attacker, who looked towards Tatara. Tokaki's horse wasn't going fast enough! Or, Sera thought so anyhow. It was actually going quite fast for going down an incline without breaking its legs.

Finally, after reaching the bottom of the hill, Sera flung herself from the horse in a sudden adrenaline rush. "BONZAI!" She yelled, startling everyone in the clearing. There was a loud 'flump' as she landed on the ground in what would have been fatal if there hadn't been a seven-foot(yes, she really thought it that deep at the time) pile of snow underneath the horse.

Though a stupid thing to do(Miaka-esque, no da?), this caused a distraction, and Tatara tackled the man in black just before the man attacked the nearest of the family members; The young woman with dark hair. At the same time Tatara did this, Tokaki jumped off the horse and picked Sera(who was now even more dazed than she had been earlier that afternoon) up off the ground, laying her across the back of the horse, before going to help Tatara out.

Phiran sat nearby on his own horse; not bothering to help in the fight, for it was already nearly over. Instead he watched as the family re-grouped and backed as far from the struggling men as possible without heading up the hill. Suddenly he jumped off his horse, yelling something incoherent to Tatara, who looked away from his fight, and saw what had caused Phiran to yell. More men dressed in black were running towards them from the other side of the valley area, tramping over the tent and towards the small family.

The young woman jumped in front of her mother as Sera dropped down from the horse(now that she had her senses back) and got a clearer view of the scene below. Watching many men attack her seishi and a helpless family caused anger to bubble up inside her, and even though she felt sick and very tired, she threw open the saddle bag next to her shoulder, and grabbed the knife she had known to be packed there.

The snow was slick, but unnoticed by Sera as she ran down the hill and leaped over a fallen black clad man, jumping onto another who was about to attack Phiran. Phiran was fighting off two others at once and had his back turned until he heard Sera's rather pathetic battle cry as she stabbed the black clad man in the chest from behind. He spluttered and shrieked before flinging himself backwards, crushing Sera underneath him. She hadn't realized he was a fairly large man when she'd been concentrating on jumping on him and killing him.

Her seishi all looked around for a split second, before continuing their own separate battles. Instead it was the elder boy of the three children in the family ran over and helped pull the man off of Sera. "Thanks!" The boy stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, then ran back to stand near his parents, nodding his head slightly to her. She whipped around and was about to tackle another of the baddies, when she noticed that her hand was grasping air rather than the knife she had previously been holding.

"Oh come on!" She growled quietly to herself as she grabbed a scythe(probably used to clear weeds) from the ground near the tent. She turned around just in time to watch a man come hurtling towards her, baring a thin, but deadly looking sword. She lifted the scythe above her head, bringing it down upon the man's back in a fluid side sweep. He looked shocked at first, through the mask that only showed his eyes, and then he fell to the ground as his spine shattered underneath Sera's weapon.

She stared at the weapon in her hands for a moment, shocked at her own actions before turning on another fighter, adrenaline running through her veins. Catching him in the arm, he growled and lunged away in another direction, clasping his wound with his unharmed hand, before coming against her again only second later. This time she used the smooth side of the pole, smacking him dead center in between his eyes. He promptly fell backwards, his eyes going upwards and glazing over. She let out a long breath and used one arm to wipe sweat from her forehead. The sick feelings in her body were beginning to reappear, along with severe fatigue.

"Sera!" Tokaki called, running to her side and helping her stand. He had noticed that she was about to pass out from exhaustion, or so she had thought until she looked over and saw a large of number of bodies, all wearing black, lying on the ground around them. Tatara was cleaning his sword on one of them's shirt, and Phiran was walking towards them, holding his side, where he had been wounded. Blood was dripping from his hand, and there seemed to be a strange light coming from wear his hand lay on his torso.

As he reached them, Sera found some energy and reached forward, snagging his ripped up shirt(probably caught by a blade of some kind), and pulling upwards.

A blinding white-blue flash caught her in the eyes and she had to blink several times before her vision cleared of it. Where the light had come from lay a small tattooed marking on his torso, right above his wound. It was fading slowly, but she could tell what it was. Looking up, she stared worriedly into her seishi's eyes, and placed her hand over his own, trying to stop the blood flow from his wound but failing.

Tokaki let her go and turned, to go speak to the mother of the family, a few yards away, asking her something in quiet tones. She suddenly sprinted across the clearing, and rummaged through the crushed tent, now lying in a big heap on the ground. A moment later she walked up to Sera's side, handing over a small leather bag. Tokaki took it from Sera's hands, thanking the woman, who motioned the others in her family over.

"Lie down, Phiran." Tokaki said in a solid, no nonsense tone, before sitting and spreading a nearby piece of tent(for some of the tent had been ripped form the rest and spread in various placing by running feet) next to himself. Phiran laid down on the tent piece obediently, ripping off his shirt as he did. "You're going to be very cold, so be prepared."

Without waiting for an answer, Tokaki picked up a handful of the nearest clean snow, laying on Phiran's wound. It melted quickly against the heat of Phiran's skin and blood. Next, the silver haired boy cut a piece of his cloth off of his cloak, just large enough to be padding against the wound, and then another. One he used to rub the wound gently, wiping away water and blood, until it was clean of both, except for the continuous bubbling up of drops of blood from inside the wound.

Opening the small bag, Tokaki pulled out a rolled up bandage, a pin, and a small roll of spun thread. Sera realized what Tokaki was doing finally, and watched more closely as Tokaki readied one fairly long piece of thread, poking it through the eye of the needle, and tying a knot in it on one end. He had steady hands as he then deftly pulled it through Phiran's now numb skin. The snow had done it's job of cleaning the wound, and it had also sucked all of the warmth from that area of the wounded man's body, causing it to numb slightly.

"Agh." Phiran let out a small groan, and flinched as he watched the boy pull a needle through his skin over and over. Sera noticed that he was shivering, and quickly sat next to him on the tent piece, laying her warm hands on his neck, then shoulders, then chest. He looked up at her briefly, and nodded his head slightly, as if to thank her, before looking back at what Tokaki was doing.

Tatara appeared next to them suddenly, giving Sera a slight scare, for she hadn't realized him go anywhere in the first place. He dropped the reins of the horses and patted one of them gently, before turning away from everyone once more. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he lifted his hands into the air. As he did, small vines grew slowly out of the snow, wrapping themselves around the dead men around them. The vines pulled the bodies all into a pile away from the camp. It seemed like slow work, but it was done at the same time as the sewing shut of Phiran's wound.

The family had been split; a couple watching Tatara do his work, and the others watching Tokaki sew. Now all five were staring wide eyed as Tokaki placed the second piece of cloth from his own cloak, on Phiran's sewed up wound, and fold it into a very compressed square, before using the roll of bandage on Phiran, who seemed glad to sit up.

Sera quickly stood up, trying to be graceful as she did so, but failing, as she was very tired. She walked to Phiran's horse and opened one of the saddlebags, digging around until she found a rolled up long sleeved shirt. She sat next to him once again and handed his shirt over just as Tokaki was tying the bandage. He gladly took the shirt, pulling it on carefully, as to avoid moving the bandage at all. "Thanks, Seraphina." He said in his charming tone, smiling at her very slightly, but still smiling.

"Your welcome." She smiled back, though her smile was probably much wider and cheerful, before covering her mouth as she let out a long, tiring yawn. Tatara was just in time to catch her as she suddenly slumped backwards, sitting behind her and holding her up with his arms. She blinked wearily, her adrenaline rush completely over and her energy sapped in its entirety, and tried to keep her eyes open.

"Go to sleep. We're done fighting now. Everything will be fine." She hardly heard him after he said the word sleep, for she had let her eyes fall closed when she heard it was an available option, and was already drifting away into unconsciousness.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Sera woke up in a very uncomfortable position. Or rather, not an uncomfortable position, but sitting on a horse while you sleep isn't exactly comfortable, when it's walking or rather, clopping, especially. They were travelling down the road, it was barely light out, probably just before dawn, with the grayness of the sky the color it was. She was leaning against Tatara with his arms around her waist, holding onto the reins with his very relaxed grip. She sat up and shivered against the cold that hit her back from the snow and wind blowing at them.

"We had to leave, or else we would have been snowed into the small valley." Tatara explained as they headed onward. She nodded mostly to herself and leaned her head over his arm to look behind them. The small family was travelling with them, trailing along behind a slightly slower pace. "There's a town about three miles south of here, they tell us, so that's where we are headed. I didn't even know this town existed because it's not really on any maps, but apparently it's been there for many years. That's where they were going, to meet some kin."

"Ahh." Sera smiled to herself at the thought of a place where they might get out of this bitter cold. Three miles wasn't very far, so they might warm up for a few hours and then head on, or maybe even the whole day and night.

They rode on for the next fifteen minutes or so, and she heard a happy shout when the very outskirts of the town they sought after appeared. She looked over Tatara's arm and saw the eldest girl of the small family grinning as she spurred her horse forward and rode up closer to the front of the group. "Oma, Apah! We'll be there soon!" She was all smiles as she spurred her horse forward ahead of the group. They all started urging their horses to a slightly faster pace. Soon they were trotting into the barely waking town. A few people were out in heavy winter robes preparing to sell things in small stalls, at the very tiny market area.

"Ju Rin, wait up!" Sera heard the elder boy of the family speak up from behind them as he urged the horse a little faster after his elder sister. "They probably aren't up yet." He said loudly to her as he caught up. Tatara called for their party to stop and dismount, as the family trotted out of sight around a corner onto another street.

"We'll stay here overnight. Spread out and find a place to stay." Tatara said to the others in their party. Tokaki and Phiran each turned down a street, walking with their horse reins in hand, so as to seem less imposing. Sera dismounted after Tatara and immediately spotted a stall selling hot drinks. She wondered why they would sell hot drinks there instead of in a saloon. But then again, not everyone had the money to buy a building just to sell drinks, especially in a small town, where they didn't have many travelers in the wintertime.

"Excuse me, but might you direct us to the nearest overnight housing establishment?" Sera asked the man who was heating a large pot over a fire, which had a wall of bricks surrounding it. He looked wary of her for a moment as he poked the fire with a long rod of metal, then jerked his head to the right.

"There's small inn down that road. Not likely to be many people staying there about now. Not many travelers this time of year, even when there is good weather. Cursed snow…" He muttered the last part to himself as he checked the inside of the pot with a lady. Sera smelled apple, and quickly cheered up a little. She loved apple cider! That might not be what it was, but if it had apples in it, she was likely to drink it anyways. She supposed that by making apple drinks in large amounts, the man had a way of preserving his fruit through the winter.

"Can I have one cup of that?" She pulled Tatara over and without even waiting for the man to say anything, grinned at the seishi, who sighed, rolled his eyes, and pulled a couple of copper coins out of his money pouch. The man eyed their money distrustfully, but then grabbed a small metal mug from under his counter, filling it and handing it over, before taking both coins.

"Take the cup, this is enough to pay for another better cup.." He then turned away and began stirring the apple drink with the ladle. Obviously, this was an easy way of telling them to get on their way and leave him be. She grinned at him and bowed, before turning away.

"Thank you, sir!" She held the cup with both hands, loving the feeling of the warmth seeping into her skin. As Tatara took the reins, they walked down the short street the man had said, and soon found themselves in front of a small, two story building, with shabby windows and a barely wind proof door. "Ah well, looks cozy enough compared to the last couple of nights.." She smiled, despite the look on Tatara's face and tipped her head towards him. "Gonna open the door for the lady?"

"Yes, of course, Priestess." He sighed and opened the door, letting her walk into the small building. The lights were on and an elder man was sweeping in the main hall.

"Can I help you?" He asked as he paused his sweeping. "We've a few rooms.. Not too grand or anything, but they'll be warm enough for any traveler in this cold."

"That's wonderful. Can we have two large size rooms, two beds apiece?" Tatara asked this as Sera sipped her warm drink. "There are two others in our party, who will be joining us momentarily."

"Of course! We have two wonderful rooms with cozy beds. I'll get my granddaughter to go get them ready. While you wait if you go down to the end of the hall, there's a lovely room where you might warm yourselves in front of the fire. My wife will bring you both some warm food and drink." He turned and walked through a half door into a kitchen like area. Sera sipped her drink some more and then walked down the hall, Tatara trailing after her, looking around everywhere.

True to the elder man's word, after they had sat a short while in front of the warm fire in the small, cozy room, an elderly woman walked in with a tray of hot squash porridge, and some tea. "Thanks you so much! If someone could come tell us when our rooms are ready, that would be lovely." Sera stood and bowed to the woman, taking the tray as she spoke.

"I shall have someone tell you, as soon as the rooms are ready. Please enjoy your stay with us. If you need anything just let us know." The woman was rather jolly for being her later years. Sera assumed the elderly couple was probably in their seventies. Late sixties at the youngest possible age.

As they sat together and ate the wonderfully warm breakfast, two people came into the room. A flaming red headed young girl, probably about eighteen or so, and an older man, probably in his forties or so, with graying blonde hair. He had a scar across his eye, and wore monk robes, a sash tying them around his waist, like a normal tunic, just like Tatara and the others wore.

She felt a strange interest in the man as he sat with the young girl at the small table in the back of the room. Not like she did with all of her seishi, but like she did with … well. She'd never really been this interested in someone before.. They were speaking quietly, the red head motioning with her hands animatedly as the spoke. Tatara wasn't listening, his back to the two people, so he could watch the door, he seemed to not care about the people behind him.

" I tell you I felt some strange pull towards that country earlier! I dunno why. I just did! No lies. And it kept flaring up last night, and burning."

"Shuna, I'm sure you are just imagining it, ya know. There's no reason for you to be this way.. No word of her for years and years, which your memory should tell you, even if you can't remember it in this body."

When they turned and saw Sera watching, she quickly looked away and shoved a mouthful of porridge into her mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly, and sipping down the rest of her apple drink. The two continued talking, but at a quieter volume, so that she couldn't hear them. She sighed to herself and finished eating quickly. A young girl came to tell them their rooms were ready after a short while, and they went out, meeting Tokaki and Phiran in the entrance area. They had stopped at a small restaurant establishment to eat breakfast before coming this way. The horses outside had given them a good idea of where we were, of course.

Later, when the men were going about getting some plans made, Sera flitted out of the room she was sharing with Tatara, and crossed her arms as she walked down the hall and looked out one of the shoddy windows. The monk, or whatever he was, with the scarred eye was walking up the stairs when she turned to go down the hall, and she quickly made room for him to walk past her. She felt the cloth from his clothing brush against her as she walked by him to step on the stairs.

A slight shock went through her body, and she felt a fluttery feeling in her body, her head going light and causing her to grab the railing of the stairs for dear life. The man whirled and stared at her with his eye wide. "For the love of Suzaku, girl!" He was just as shocked as she was, she could tell. Suzaku.. She had heard Tatara and Phiran talking about that early. The god of the country to the east of Sairou, she believed.

She blinked a few times, willing the lightheadedness away, before she regained her composure and stood up straight, releasing the railing. "So sorry. I didn't mean to…" She was wondering what exactly she had done, but whatever it was.. Something weird had just happened. "What exactly just.. happened..?"

"I've no idea, I was going to ask you the same question." The man smiled slightly, his shocked expression completely gone. "Are you well?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit light headed there for a minute." She was sure there were butterflies in her body or something. It felt like something was fluttering around her whole body. "I think I'll go get some tea.." She bowed briefly and turned to walk down the stairs.

"I'll join you! This is mostly my fault for bumping into you, no da. I'll pay for you." Sera was going to say that he didn't have to, but she was somehow inclined to let him do as he would. Something inside of her told her to go ahead and let him.

"Thank you. You're so kind. But I mustn't stay down here too long," Sera started saying as she reached the bottom of the stairs and waited for him to do so as well. They both walked down the hall as she finished. "Tatara will be wondering where I am." She watched the man closely as he suddenly stopped walking and looked at her.

"That name.." He barely spoke loud enough for to hear, but she did. He quickly motioned for her to go ahead. "I'll get your tea. Don't leave." He smiled and turned to walk towards the kitchen area, while she sat at the small table in the room with the fireplace.

Before he even came back, Tatara had come down stairs and found her, standing in front of the fire and watching her closely. "Please don't wander off like that priestess.. At least tell people where you are going." Sera heard an intake of breath and looked from Tatara to the door, where the man stood with her tea. "You are.. Chichiri! I thought I heard you and saw you earlier.." Tatara exclaimed, his relaxed voice no longer there, but instead a voice of excitement.

The man, Chichiri, was just as surprised looking, and seemed to be shocked like he had been earlier. "Tatara, no da!" He strode across the room, depositing the tray with tea on the table, before going to stand near Tatara. "It's been a long time.. You're…?" He looked between Tatara and Sera and then jumped slightly. "You mean, she.. Already? It's been a mere twenty years!"

"We shouldn't talk of such things here, Chichiri." Tatara said in a hushed tone, motioning the Suzaku seishi to go sit at the table. They both walked over and joined Sera. She was thoroughly confused now, and watched the two speak with a questioning look on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry, Priestess. This is Chichiri, one of the Suzaku seishi." Sera nodded slowly and then took her cup of tea, draining most of it. "I suppose I should explain how I know this man…" Tatara said as he looked around. There was no one else there, so he quickly jumped into the tale of the past where he had known Chichiri and the other seishi of Suzaku.

**A/N:** There you are! I'm trying to get the rest of the character in here in the next few chapters, so this story doesn't end up stretching for four more years. o.o;

If you liked it or have any questions, please review! But I don't want any flames. D;

I'll try to work on another chapter soon, but I'm getting a ton of extra stress loads right now, so it might be a little while.


	11. Unveiling

**A/N:** How lovely it is to be writing for you all again! I'm so sorry for taking so long. I thought life was going to be a bit slower after March or so, but instead it has been even more hectic, especially after the school year finished at the beginning of June. I finally have a ton of inspiration for writing on this fic though (Mainly because I've been re-watching Fushigi Yuugi the anime as of a couple days ago.), so I hope to appease your need for my story. I'm also going to try to finish this story sometime soon, because I have so many ideas for the sequel, which I've been planning almost longer than I've been writing on this one. XD'

I do not own any of the original characters.

However, I do own in this story:

The characters based on names from the original story:

Nuriko, Tatara, Boushin, Tamahome, Tokaki, Do Chun(You'll find out who he is in this chapter!), Mitsukake, Shuna, and many more to come.

The characters and names:

Shawana, Seraphina(Or rather, I own a few little things I've added to her life and personality), Phiran(Except for a few things that Cyan originally came up with for him), The evil lady, Liuan- and many more to come.

For future reference:

Okay, I take back what I said last chapter about imagining them only Korean and Chinese people. I now have decided that in my version of the story, there are Europeans, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese type of people, and there are just smaller colonies of the European-esqe. This race is what Nakago is.

On to the story!

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 11**

"I'm so tired of riding with someone else!" Shawana exclaimed, dropping down from the horse she was sharing with Do Chun. The cold of the snow was getting to all of them, and as she already had a temper, it wasn't helpful that she wasn't getting her way. "Why can't we just get me my own at the next town!?"

"Because we are almost out of the money that the Emperor sent, that's why. We can only spend on food and inns now. Nothing else." Nuriko rolled his eyes at her as he answered, and led his horse over so he could yank her up from the ground. She settled onto his lap, and sighed deeply, flinging her head in dismay, as she glared at Nuriko's hand around her waist. "You should be glad that Mitsukake had his own horse, or else we'd all be angry about having to pair up." Shawana nodded slightly and looked around as the horses all trotted up the nearly snow covered path. They were riding through a small forest, only miles from the border of Sairou. They would be there within three days, if the snow held off that long, if another blizzard occurred it would be more like a week, of course.

"I wish you guys had some pocket hand warmers… There are so many things that could make this ride so much more enjoyable.." She scowled at the ground as she clasped her hands together in their gloves. They were all wearing many layers of clothing to fend off the cold of the weather, but they were still all suffering. "Don't you all thin we should stop for the evening? It's getting darker out.." Nuriko nodded and motioned for the others to turn off the path. There was a small clearing to their left.

The others went about clearing the snow out of the way, and gathering some of the drier wood around the area. After an hour or so, they had a large canvas tent put up, with a large mat on the ground to protect them from mud, and a fire going outside of the tent. All of them were sitting around the fire on large stones, eating a small dinner of meat and vegetables, and drinking, heated snow, with a little honey added.

Shawana snuggled a little further into her blankets and robes, hoping to fend off the cold wind that was blowing ever so slightly through the trees. Nuriko watched closely from across the fire, and soon stood; walking from the camp after saying he needed to do what nature intended. When he came back, he walked up from behind Shawana and sat beside her instead of in his previous seat across the fire. He wrapped his arm around her, in hopes of making her a little warmer. She blushed slightly and looked away from him, continuing a conversation with Do Chun.

The wind blew even harder for a moment, and Do Chun stood up, cleaning his plate with a little snow and a cloth and setting it on his seat. "I'm going to go walk a bit, and get some exercise." Without even waiting for anyone to answer, he exited the clearing, soon disappearing from Shawana's sight.

"Nuriko, I hear there is a hot spring in this forest. Would you take me there? I wish to bathe this evening." Shawana looked up at the man who had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and fluttered her eyelashes a little. He frowned a little. She knew he didn't really want anyone by them self out there, and as a woman, she would indeed have to bathe alone, but she really felt the need to clean away the dirtiness from travelling for several days.

"Well, if you promise to be very careful, I suppose.. I could let you bathe, but.. I really don't feel comfortable with you being alone." Nuriko stood and placed his hands on his hips, staring out into the darkening trees.

"Oh I'll be fine. I promise. Come on!" Shawana jumped up and set her dirty dishes beside Do Chun's clean ones, before grabbing Nuriko's arm and pulling him into the trees. "I want to be mostly done by the time it's completely dark out.."

And so, Nuriko led her to the hot springs, through the maze of snow covered paths and trees, and other such foliage. Shawana thanked him as they reached the hot springs. It was a long indentation in the ground that looked somewhat like a creek, only not quite as long. "You can go now." She said I na happy tone, already removing one of many layers of clothing.

"I'll be back in an hour. Don't run off." Nuriko said as he turned and left. "And don't drown either." He frowned at her seriously over his shoulder, and then wandered off in the direction they had come from.

Shawana made sure he was gone, then quickly stripped down to her birthday suit, throwing her clothes over a low branch that she had wiped the snow from, then quickly entered the water to get out of the cold air. The hot springs were indeed that. Hot. She guessed that the spring was probably about twenty degrees hotter than a usual bath at home, but it felt glorious to someone who had been in the cold for so long.

She was beginning to scrub her body with a cloth she had ripped from the inside of one of her robes very carefully, when she heard a splash from behind. She whipped around in the water, watching as a figure in the dim light made it's way through the water towards herself. She started to shriek, but then the figures head emerged from the water, and she saw it was Do Chun.

"Ah!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around her chest. "Do Chun!" The figure looked at her with wide eyes.

… Wide...Feminine eyes.

Shawana gasped as she looked down in the water and saw something that a man does not have. Do Chun had breasts! She gasped again and then leaned forward and placed her hands on Do Chun's face, all modesty forgotten. "You're a girl! Wow! Why didn't you tell me?!" Her fingers flitted quickly across Do Chun's face, examining the rose bud, full lips, and the high cheek bones.

Do Chun pulled away and turned slightly, hiding her body from view. "..A woman actually.. I'm not a girl anymore. I said my age was fifteen years, but I'm actually nineteen years old." She turned away fully and rubbed some water across her arms, almost casually, her face flushed.

Shawana made her way around, through the water and faced the woman. "Is Do Chun your real name then? You still didn't answer as to why you kept your gender a secret."

"Yes, my name is truly Do Chun, but as a woman I prefer to go by just Chun. I do not answer because… Well..I have always been ashamed of my gender. It is not fitting for me to be a woman.."

"Why is it not fitting for you to be a woman!?" Shawana exclaimed, almost annoyed with the other woman.

"The person who I was in a past life was a great a mighty person. HE was a great a mighty person, and served a wonderful lady who saved out country. He died an honorable death, providing protection for her. I have always wished to continue his mighty deeds, but to do so, I must be a man.." Chun turned away and looked down, blinking her watery eyes.

"Who was this person that you were in a past life? And who did you serve?" Shawana felt like she was prodding the woman for answers, but since she's been duped by Chun, she felt she deserved the answers.

Chun was silent for a minute or so, flitting the water with her fingers, and Shawana was very patient, simply staring at Chun, with her arms now crossed under her chest. "My name was Oh Do Kun in my past life.."

There was silence once more between them for another moment or so.

"Oh Do Kun.. Also known as Chiriko, the young genius, who served the Suzaku no Miko until death at the age of thirteen, when I died to save her and the other seishi. I am also one of your seishi.. " Chun let the tears fall from her eyes for only moments before raising her hands to wipe the little globes of salt water away from her now flushed cheeks.

Shawana swatted Chun's hands away from her face, and wiped the tears away herself. "You shouldn't let who you were in a past life rule your current life. You should live your life to the fullest, Chun, not let your past life rule you. You are a woman, and you should be proud." Shawana leaned forward and kissed Chun on the forehead, before hugging her. "I am proud to have such a strong woman as my seishi. I hope that you will serve me honorably just as you did for the Miko in your past life. Now, you should get all your tears out and return to being a woman."

Shawana backed away and let Chun reach up and wipe her tears away. This was to no avail, however, as more just came rushing out. She sniffed and laughed softly, then splashed a large amount of water at Shawana. "Thank you priestess. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Of course that is fine with me." Shawana laughed at the splash of water and splashed some back.

"Would you… pierce my ears for me, once you have the time? Your ears are so beautiful when they have those little gold earrings in them.. I've always thought earrings were beautiful.."

"Oh my! I thought you were going to ask me something serious! Of course I'll do it for you. It will probably be more painful than when I got mine done, but I would love to do it for you!" Shawana laughed and patted Chun's shoulder, before finally returning to scrubbing her arms with the make-shift rag.

"Thank you so much, Priestess! I shall leave you to your bath then. It's about time for me to return to the camp, or the other will get suspicious… Wait.. well, it doesn't really matter, but I'll go anyhow." Chun waded to the edge of the spring and removed herself from the water, quickly using a small piece of clothing to dry herself off, and then throwing the others one before she started getting hypothermia.

"When you get back to camp, please tell Nuriko he may come five minutes earlier than he thought." Shawna smiled at Chun, who nodded, and then walked back out into the trees.

Shawana sighed and lay back in the water, washing her red hair as thoroughly as she could without soap. She scrubbed as much of her body as she could, then climbed out of the water, drying herself quickly, then throwing her clothes, socks, and shoes back on, before looking out into the trees. She figured Nuriko would be there in another few minutes.

Looking around through the trees, it was pretty much silent for a moment, and then she flinched as she heard cracking noises from near the river bank. She looked around, but didn't see anything.. Getting a little jittery, she looked back out towards the trees, and finally decided that she would just walk most of the way to camp by herself. She was sure to meet Nuriko on the way.

She almost ran away from the hot spring, in the direction she thought she had come originally. She thought she saw a snow covered bush she recognized, so she turned there, and started walking a little more slowly as she had calmed down a little.

After walking for nearly five minutes, and not seeing anything she recognized again, she started to panic. '_I must have turned the wrong direction..'_ She breathed deeply once and turned around, heading in the opposite direction. Merely seconds had passed when she heard a strange noise coming from a short ways to her right. She nearly shrieked, but quickly clapped her hands over her mouth, looking in the direction of the sounds.

She was about to turn and run when she saw the figure that was making the noises.

"Nuriko!" She exclaimed, running towards the figure and hugging him. "I'm so glad you showed up. I was lost! You have perfect timing." She looked up into Nuriko's eyes and smiled, happy to see the beautiful man. "Oomph!" All of the sudden she was on the ground. She looked from the snow on the ground to Nuriko with wide eyes. He scowled at her.

"Don't act like that. I am not someone you can hug so comfortably." Nuriko glared at Shawana and turned to walk away. "And don't call my name like you are my lover or something, because I assure you that you are not." He started walking down the path casually, not even turning to make sure she was following.

"But…What about that day!?" Shawana yelled at him, jumping up and running after him. She was still trying not to believe this was happening to her. "That kiss we shared! What about that? I thought that meant something to you!" She was started to feel woozy. She had been broken up with before, but it had never caused this much pain. And it was even worse that they had never solidified their relationship, because she knew that it was very possible that he had simply thought of her as a one night girl friend or something.

"That?" He stopped for a moment, but did not turn as he spoke. "That was nothing. I was simply giving in to my lust for you, Shawana. You should be lucky I did not go farther. I already have a woman waiting for me in the capital. You mean nothing to me." He continued to walk away.

Shawana stood there with wide eyes, watching him until he was out of sight.. "..You don't mean that.." She said in a soft voice, blinking away tears. "Nuriko! You can't mean that! Please tell me you are joking with me! Please turn around and come back to me!" She was yelling, but the sound was hardly coming out. She shrieked in frustration at her own lack of voice and kicked a nearby tree trunk.

Tears dripped from her chin and she shrieked again. This time the sound resounded through the trees. She turned and ran in a random direction. She had no clue where she was running to. She couldn't even see very well through the tears in her eyes, but she wanted to get away.

She fell after he foot caught on a large rock in the path, and landed on her hands and knees. She pounded the ground in frustration and cried as she rocked herself back and forth in the snow. Cold seeped through all of her clothes, and she let it, without getting up off of the ground. _'I want to go home..'_ She said in her head. She had way to speak to herself through her sobbing, so she simply spoke to herself in her head. _'Please let me go to sleep and wake up at home.. Please..'_ She closed her eyes and lay down in the snow, forgetting the cold.

It wasn't long before cold and exhaustion caused her to fall asleep.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"No Shawana! Don't sleep in the snow!" Miaka exclaimed as she reading the book out loud. "Taka, she just went to sleep in the snow! Nuriko told her that he didn't really love her!" Miaka looked around and saw that her husband was not listening. He was sleeping across the couch, with their daughter on top of him, also sleeping away.

She turned her eyes back to the page of the book and read the next paragraph. It said something about a red light enveloping Shawana. "AH!" Miaka shrieked as she saw a red haired figure suddenly fall from a red hole in the ceiling onto the ground. "Shawana!" She scrambled over to where Shawana was moaning and pushing herself up. The large robes she wore were prohibiting quite a bit of movement, so Miaka helped her sit up. "You shouldn't be here! You need to stay in the book! The country will be defeated Shawana!"

Shawana simply stared at the brunette Japanese girl, and then stood, running from the room, and out of the apartment. Miaka was about to run after her, but then remembered that she should stay to read the story about Seraphina, or it wouldn't move forward. She could hear Shawana's footsteps in the hall for only a few seconds, and then they were gone.

The red head tore off the layers of robes that she was wearing and tossed them next to a large plant at the end of the hall to her apartment. She didn't stop running until she was well away from the building though. When she finally did stop running, she found herself much farther away than she thought she was going to be. She breathed in quick gasps and continued walking in the same direction. "Shawana you are such an idiot! You finally get home, and then you run away? BAKA!"

A few people walking down the street in the street lamp light stared at her, but then quickly looked away. She started running again, and did so until she was quite far down town. She stopped running, with no clue as to where she was, and looked around. The Tokyo National Library was across the street. It was about an hour until closing time. They were now staying open later, because some university students needed to study long into the night.

She jogged across the cross walk and into the building, then went to browse the isles and isles of books. _'You need to think about this Shawana. Miaka said that if you aren't there the country will be defeated. But from what you know, the whole world may be destroyed, if the cold lingers for too long, and gets worse, it will not be good. But I don't want to face Nuriko… Of course, maybe that doesn't matter. I've been broken up with before. I can get over him just as well as any of the others.. I'm pretty sure. I think I'd like to go back.'_ She stopped in front of a book case full of Science books.

"Shawana.. You are so fickle. You leave one minute, and the next you already want to go back.." She thought about it for another couple of minutes, and then decided she would indeed go back. She couldn't leave them hanging.

She quickly rubbed her red, puffy eyes, and went about grabbing some biology, chemistry, language learning(mainly Korean and Japanese), and fashion design books. She also picked up several fictional books she liked and then checked them out, getting a large, cloth library bag to carry them in. She spent another hour walking back to her apartment. When she got there she saw that Miaka was still reading the book.

"Miaka, I'm sorry for rushing out on you earlier.. I was very emotional.. Could I borrow some money? I want to buy some stuff before I go back in." She stood at the kitchen counter for a moment before Miaka closed the book and walked over.

"You sure have some audacity. You just walk right in and ask for money.. Well fine. You can take mine, but don't get anything expensive…" Miaka laughed and patted her on the back. "I'm guessing you calmed yourself down and became a reasonable person again?"

"Sure did." Shawana smiled slightly and nodded. "I took some time to think about my situation. Wait… How do you know about all of this anyway?"

"I was once in the book as well, Shawana.. I know what you are going through quite well."

"Then.. You mean.. You were a priestess?" She was slightly shocked, and looked between Miaka and Taka, who was in the living on the couch, still sleeping.

"Indeed I was." Miaka smiled and patted Shawana again. "Taka was also in the book. My life there was quite miraculous. Taka is the incarnation of Tamahome in our world. I fell in love with my seishi, Tamahome while I was the Priestess and wished for me to be able to stay with him in my life. It worked."

Shawana was dumbstruck. She had believe the story of the Priestess before her, but she had never thought that it might be someone she was good friends with who had lived that story. And Taka. He was Tamahome? "Amazing.. This book truly is amazing, isn't it?" She almost laughed. Shaking her head slowly, she took the money that Miaka had just pulled from her purse, and turned to leave again. "Thank you so much for telling me this Miaka. I am very thankful." She then walked out the door.

She drove to her favorite stores, instead of walking, and looked around for some gifts for those in the book world. A pair of lovely gold stud earrings for Chun, and while she was at it, she bought a piercing gun, and some of the solution to keep the holes from being infected. A sturdy leather jacket for Tamahome, which she hoped to God was the right size. For Mitsukake, she had no clue what to get so she got him a set of books on modern medicines, and their make. She gathered some small trinkets, and an entire large box of pocket hand warmers to give to everyone riding with them, and herself as well, of course. Last of all, she thought about what to get for Nuriko.

"He doesn't really deserve anything!" She said to herself quite fiercely as she walked through the front of a small shop that she had come to love for it's wonderful quality goods. She looked about, deciding she might as well take something back. She could keep it if he continued his act of hating her. But if grew to like him again, she could give it to him. She finally settled on a necklace. It had a black leather chain, with two rings that locked together, but could be taken apart and one taken off to put on another necklace. The rings were the same size, but medium sized. They fit on Shawana's middle finger.

She bought this as the last thing, then drove home. While Miaka read on in the book silently, Shawana packed some tampons and pads, for it was nearly that time of the month, as well as her sketch books and colored pencils, her most precious jewelry, and a double picture frame with a picture of her family on one side, and Seraphina's on the other and a few shirts and some jeans, clean underclothes, and socks into a duffel bag. She also packed her cell phone and MP3 player into the bag as well, though she expected they probably wouldn't work in the book world. She pulled on warm tights, jeans, sweatpants, a camisole, t-shirt, sweat shirt, and her favorite jacket, as well as two of the robes from the book, and grabbed her entire collection of scarves, two of which she wrapped around her neck, and the others went into a small carryon style bag which held all of the library books and her own books which she loved. She grabbed her favorite gloves and shoved them into her robe's pockets.

"Nearly ready Shawana?" Shawana nodded as she placed the two large bags on the coffee table and turned to take the book from Miaka.

"Wait!" Shawana turned and walked into Seraphina's room. She grabbed a locket off of the bed side table and then walked back out. "I don't know if I'll see Seraphina there, or even how long we'll be there, but I think I should take her favorite necklace." Miaka smiled and nodded at the obvious kindness. "Now I'm ready." Shawana placed the locket in the safest place she knew of. This happened to be inside of her bra, but it was safer than placing it in the bulging pockets or bag.

Miaka held the book for Shawana, who began to read as she threw the duffel bag strap over her shoulder, grabbed her satchel with that hand, and picked up a smaller bag with the gifts and hand warmers in it with the other hand. As she finished the beginning words, she saw the red light appear around her. Miaka smiled.

"Have fun. Don't forget to save the world! Don't forget about us! " Miaka took the book back to her side, and Shawana smiled back, wishing she could wave.

"I'll see you later. Bye Miaka." Just as the last words were out of her mouth, she felt the falling sensation she had experienced only hours ago in her own world. It had been weeks in the book world however. She smiled to herself as she fell through the red light, holding tight to her things, then closed her eyes and blacked out.

* * *

**A/N:** All over! The end!

..Of the chapter that is.

No, the story is not over yet. But you may get two chapters of Seraphina before you see Shawana again. I'm not sure yet. We'll have to wait and see. If you are wondering why she packed so much stuff, the reason is that Shawana does not know how long it will be before she comes back to the real world, so she wants to have her own things while she is there to make life more comfortable.

I'm going to try and get the next couple of chapters up soon. There might be one up sometimes this week, but I am not sure because I am going to be pretty busy.

Review if you liked it!


	12. Old Buddies

**A/N:** Hey ya'll! I'm back again, and quite soon! Just so you all know, either this is going to be a really long chapter, or there will be two in a row of Seraphina. I'm going to try and get the plot moving right along as well.

I do not own any of the original characters.

However, I do own in this story:

The characters based on names from the original story:

Nuriko, Tatara, Boushin, Tamahome, Tokaki, Do Chun, Mitsukake, Shuna, and many more to come.

The characters and names:

Shawana, Seraphina, Phiran, The evil lady, Liuan, and many more to come.

On to the story!

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 12!**

Snow flew past the window of the lounge room in the inn. Sera sat with her back to the fire, not really paying attention to anything except the old, leather bound book she flipped through on her lap. It was a recounting of the story of the first Byakko no Miko. She had found it while browsing a small book store two days before, and had found that she was profoundly interested in her predecessor.

She was nearly done with the large book, and extremely emotional. One of the seishi of Byakko's soul had just been murdered, preventing the seishi from ever being reborn. Sera had never heard from Tatara about that happening, and she wondered how the writer had known about it. It was the seishi named Toroki that this had happened to. A violent demon had drawn her soul from her body while she was fighting it alone and murdered it.

There was nothing anyone could do to help, and it made Sera cry to read it, for this had happened after the summoning of Byakko. Susano was in the midst of being taken home, and all the others were with her, but Toroki was still fighting.

'_That's so sad.._' Sera thought to herself, wiping away a single tear that had escaped from her eyes, and sniffing. She finished the last four pages, telling of how Susano went back to her world, and of how three of the seishi were left to live until another Miko needed their help.

A few specks of dust escaped the pages as she closed the book and set it on the ground in front of her, still thinking very seriously about those who had come before her. Susano had failed to live a normal life after summoning the beast god. She sincerely believed that if she became weak, the same thing would happen to herself. She had never been extremely strong-willed, like her best friend, Shawana, but she had always thought herself strong of mind, at least. Maybe that would help her out in the long run.

"May I sit here?" Sera looked up and saw the Suzaku seishi named Chichiri. He smiled at her, the lines around his mouth and eyes crinkling slightly. It almost amused Sera how young this man acted when he was in his early fifties. She felt a very close connection with him, though, like he was already a very close friend, even though he had known him only four days.

"Of course you may." She scooted sideways a little to make more room for him, and pulled the book back into her lap. He settled next to her, and crossed his legs, smiling at her again.

"Don't get yourself caught up on the end of Susano's story, Seraphina. I believe you will survive as the lead role in your own story." Sera looked at him in amazement. How had he known what she was crying about, and how did he know what she was thinking about.

"How did you… know?"

"I could see it in your eyes Seraphina. Every one of the priestesses has been worried about failing at one time or another. The Suzaku no Miko went through many tough trials, wondering if she would even summon, but through everything, she just became a much stronger person. She caused us all to become stronger as well." He sighed and closed his un-damaged eye, breathing in the smell of the wood burning only feet behind them.

Sera stayed silent, slowly reaching up to flick back a strand of her hair, which had escaped the braid she had it in. "You are so.. wise.. Chi… May I call you Chichiri?"

"Indeed, that is the name I would prefer you to call me. My true name is Ri Houjun, but I generally go by Chichiri." He fiddled with the necklace that draped from his neck for a moment, then turned away from her, looking out the window and watching the many flakes of white pass by. "I have to disagree however; I am anything but wise. I am simply clever and quick to figure out problems." He laughed slightly, then suddenly started coughing.

"Are you well. Chichiri?" Sera placed her hand on his back and patted it slightly. She felt a need to take care of this older man, and almost unknowingly it had become a habit. He seemed to go into coughing fits quite often. She figured he probably had caught a chest cold recently, and that was why he was coughing so much.

He coughed a few more times then turned back to his original seating position, pounding on his chest with his fist a few times. "Oh yes," He coughed once more, and then drew a deep breath. "I am quite fine, Seraphina. Thank you for worrying though." He smiled once more and looked her in the eyes. "I shall leave now. My companion, Shuna, wishes to leave town."

"In this weather!?" Sera stood up at the same time as Chichiri and stared at him with wide eyes. "It is nearly a blizzard out there! How can you leave in such terrible weather? I was hoping you and Shuna might stay here until the storm was over and then leave with me and my company. We are travelling to the border of Konan and Sairou as well, and I hope to meet up with a friend of mine in Konan."

Chichiri stared at her for a moment, and let his hands drop to his sides. "I suppose, I might convince Shuna to stay one more day. It is quite a storm out there right now." He sighed and turned to leave. "I shall go speak with her, and see if she will wait. Please get some rest later Sera."

Sera watched him leave the room, clutching her book close and listening to the sounds of cooking going on in the kitchen not far from that room. It took her several moments to realize he had called her by her nickname, instead of her full name. "Huh." She sighed and turned to walk over to the window, leaning her free hand against the sill and watching the few people brave enough to go out in the snow storm walk by.

She stood there for a while, until it was quite dark out and a young man walked along the street, lighting oil lamps on the side of metal poles at the edge of the streets. Suddenly, she felt an urge to go outside.

It was a very unusual urge, because she knew it would be quite cold, but for some reason, she wished to go out. She also suddenly felt quite emotional. She couldn't tell if it was she who was emotional, or something else. She felt sad, and angry, though only a tiny bit. She had no clue why either.

She walked down the hall quietly and stepped out the door, closing it as quickly as possible, so as to let as little snow as possible into the building. Once outside she stayed on the front step of the inn and star to the east. They were still many miles from the border of Konan. At least another two to three week journey. But she felt as if she was already there. In a forest. A dark forest, full of snow, and cold, and…people.

Closing her eyes, she waited only seconds before a picture was in front of her eyes. She saw a figure in robes, long red hair blowing in the cold breeze, and another figure with dark purple toned hair walking away. She saw the figure cry and get angry and then run.

Sera watched as her best friend dropped to the ground and fell asleep. She then watched as a flash of red light engulfed Shawana and then she disappeared.

Sera opened her eyes wide and stared out into the snow. She was suddenly quite unemotional, and she had no clue as to why she was outside. All she knew was that Shawana was in need of her friend. She only wished that if she started running now she could go and find her friend, but it doesn't work like that..

"Urg. I'm so mad!" Sera yelled in frustration at her inability to be there for her friend, before turning around and walking inside.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Joo Rin tugged her robe closer about her as she walked quickly down the road. There were very few people out, as it was dark and cold, and the snow was falling so heavily, even the lamps didn't do much to make it easy to see. She had spent the last few days with her family's relatives, enjoying her time, but she had made a hard decision that day.

Her family was mostly out of money, because her father had not had work for many months. Her family was going to settle down in this town, and Joo Rin told her parents she would go seek out some way of making money to help settle their debts.

She was on her way to the inn where the Byakko no Miko had been staying for the last several days, in hopes that the woman would have work for her. She didn't even need very much money, just a small salary every week, and the ability to ride with them to other towns where she might find work.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

_Cold eyes, the color of pure, blue ice, stared into a small mirror, and watched carefully what the priestess of Byakko did from moment to moment. The lady had gone for many days without eating or drinking, simply watching Seraphina's every movement._

"_Dear girl, please continue to question yourself. It will make my job all the easier." As she spoke, her servant shivered in the corner of the room. _

_A loud roar shook the room of ice, and the lady looked away from the mirror, instead drawing her unblinking gaze the tapestry above the fireplace. She walked across the room, laying the mirror on the mantle, and reached up, tapping her finger on the door of the ice castle in the tapestry._

_A large white door, made of packed snow suddenly appeared in front of her, which she then proceeded to open and walk through._

_The lady found herself in a large room made of ice. It was almost like a large room of cold mirror walls, for she could see herself on every wall. She stared at her own naked body for a moment, smiling slightly, shook back her main of white hair, and then looked to her left. There sat a large beast, nearly translucent. She saw her own body on the wall behind the beast god, and smiled a cruel smile._

"_My lord, what is your trouble?" She asked the creature, walking over to stand next the creature's long body. Her fingers found the clear fur that covered the animal's body, and stroked it soothingly. She continued to do so until the figure shrunk to the size of a human, and then slowly morphed until it had the appearance of just that. Short white hair covered the being's head, and a cruel gaze came from his pure white eyes. He had very pale skin, and did not wear a single piece of clothing._

"_I am hungry for more souls, Nu'aia. The hunger prevents me from becoming stronger. I must have a stronger being to regain my strength." His voice was deep, like something you would expect of a great snow dwelling beast._

"_I am doing my best, Lord Kiran. I watch the girl every day, and even now, I have spies following her every move and reporting to me. As to your meal, it shall not be long at all until.." She didn't finish, for the beast called Kiran had become upset with her tone of voice. His hand connected with her frigid cheek, throwing her several feet from the force. "So sorry my Lord." She said, still unemotional on the outside. _

_Inside, Nu'aia felt like killing the higher being for doing such a thing to her perfect face. How dare he touch her in anger. Soon she remembered that Kiran was a beast god, however, and had every right to treat her like scum on his foot. She maintained her impassive appearance and walked back over to stand next to him._

"_My Lord, I shall donate another portion of my own soul to keep yours appeased, if it so pleases you." She slowly turned and stood in front of him, leaning forward and laying her hand on his cheek. "Please do with me as you will. If it makes you feel better, I shall do anything for you."_

_Kiran, the beast god in human form reached up and removed her hand from his cheek. His hand fluttered quite gracefully across her naked collar bones, and then down to other places of her body. She closed her eyes, breathing heavily, and tried to forget herself as he pushed her to the floor, connecting their lips. She felt a slight amount of her discomfort fade. All she wished for now was to serve him. He commanded for her to become more passionate. She felt his body against hers, and then everything faded out of her mind._

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Joo Rin walked down yet another street in the dim light, with snow blowing past. She looked around but didn't see anyone, though she did hear the dull sound of clopping hooves and spinning wheels not far away. She looked up and down the street but didn't see anything, so she kept walking down the street, deciding that the sound was just something coming from her own mind.

Only seconds later, as the sound became quite louder, she heard a shout of warning, and spun just in time to see and rather tall figure come sprinting from where she had been only moments before. As the figure neared she looked over her shoulder and saw that a carriage was coming full speeding her direction.

Suddenly she was in arms and flying in the direction of the nearest building. The figure carrying her held her close until they reached the wall of the building and were out of harm's way. The carriage went rattling past at a very fast speed. Joo Rin looked up into her savior's face and stared.

Blonde hair wisped about his face, framing a long, noble nose, full lips, and big, long lashed bright blue eyes. He was one of the few remaining light haired people in Sairou. There were less than three hundred of his people left, she had heard her mother saying once when she was slightly younger. He was the first she had ever seen, though she had of course heard of the terrible Nakago of Kutou, as had all children of her generation.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed, finally regaining her voice. The man nodded breathlessly and set her back on her feet.

"Stay out of trouble from now on, miss." He said simply, before walking off in the same direction as she had been going earlier.

"I will!" She said back as she rushed to keep up with him. He looked down at her for a moment frowned, and then started walking faster. "I'm sorry to bother you. I'm also going this way.."

"It's not a bother." The man slowed his pace again, but didn't look at her again. He stopped suddenly and turned to walk over to a door. Joo Rin looked up and saw that he had stopped in front of a saloon that was going to be open for another couple of hours.

She looked to where the man had been, but saw that he had already gone inside. Sighing, she turned and continued walking. After only a few minutes, she ducked out of the snow for a moment, and into a dark alley way.

"It's so cold.." She murmured to herself, watching the snow go by even faster than it had been when she had set out. She brushed the flakes from her shoulders and arms, and was nearly done before she even noticed the presences behind her. "Oh!" She exclaimed as she turned slightly and saw the dark outlines of two men standing only feet from her in the same alley. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to intrude."

"Oh no, darlin'. No intruding' was done. You are quite welcome here." One of them laughed cruelly and they both moved forward. It took a moment for what was happening to sink in, and by then one of them had already placed a hand over her mouth. She attempted to scream, but failed. Panicking, she flailed her still free legs into the man in front of her's most sensitive area of the body. He yelled, but then grabbed her legs. They dragged her down farther into the alley, and then into a small shed, where it appeared to have been holding them for a while. There was a makeshift bed on the floor in the corner, and some cooking utensils, as well as several bottles of alcohol littering the ground near the cot, where they dropped her on her bottom..

'_NO!'_ She shrieked in her mind trying her best to fling her body from their grip. One was tying her hand behind her back, after shoving a piece of cloth in her mouth, and the other still held onto her legs.

"Now now, miss. It won' be that bad. We're jus' in need of a little lovin'. Jus' like anyone else in the world." The men were very ugly, and scrawny, like they had been living on only alcohol for weeks. She probably would have felt sorry for them if they were trying to force her to do things against her will.

Suddenly they were both wielding knives, and they pushed her onto her back, then started cutting the material of her robes, as to remove them from her body. She tried to scream, to no avail, tears pouring from her eyes. She felt like she was starting to go into a panic attack. How could this happen to her? She was just trying to walk across town to see someone!

Before she knew it she lay there in nothing but her thin trousers and tunic, and under clothes. Both of the men got up and went to the other corner of the room for a moment. Joo Rin took her chance to spit the cloth out, though it took a couple tries. Then she screamed the loudest she ever had. She was sure that it had resonated quite well out into at least the alley way. She forced herself onto her side then sat up on her knees and stood before the men ever came back.

"You bastards! You sick cowards!" She shrieked these insults at them as they came back and tried to force her down onto the cot. She clamped her jaws shut so that they couldn't put anything in her mouth and when one of them tried she bit him hard enough to draw blood, and then screamed again. One of the men took the chance to grab her and shove her down. He shoved his lips against her and used his hands to rip at her remaining clothing. Before he had succeeded in ripping anything but the top of her tunic, she heard the other man shout in pain.

Suddenly the man on top of her was pulled back, and she flinched. Then she looked up and saw that the blonde man from earlier stood above her, on the other side of the shed, the two men were up against the wall, their hands scratching furiously at their throats. There was nothing holding them there from what she could see, but there they were.

She looked back to the blonde man and turned away, covering her naked chest. He leaned down and grabbed the shed robes from the floor. He took up one of the knives from the floor and shredded the ropes around her feet and hands. Then he gently wrapped her in the robes and sat her up.

Suddenly she was overcome with emotion, and leaned forward, her head in her hands, tears falling in small streams from her eyes. Her body wracked with a sob or two before the man reacted. She heard him let out a long sigh, then he bent down and picked her up, one arm around her waist and the other under her legs. "Just let it out, miss." He said consolingly as she continued to cry while watching his face.

Joo Rin placed her face against his chest and sobbed for several more moments. He walked out of the shed, not letting her see the two lifeless bodies now laying in a pile on the ground near the wall, and out into the snowy air. She stopped sobbing and looked up at his face again, the tears coming from her eyes slowed, and she tried to get her voice back. She opened her mouth to speak, but he shushed her.

"I'll take you over to the inn. After a nice cup of tea, you can talk." She nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder once more. Closing her eyes, she felt sudden warmth engulf her body, and darkness cloud her mind as sleep took her.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Sera felt a slight pull as she sat on her bed and brushed her hair. She was preparing to sleep, but had not yet blown out the candles. She looked towards the door and felt herself standing, almost without even realizing it. "Huh.." She looked over at Tatara who was watching her from his sitting position next to their small fire place in the room. "I feel the need to go down stairs for some reason.. I'll be right back.." She pulled her sleeping robe very close and walked across the room, stepping out the door and into the hallway.

The floor of the hall was cold, but Sera hardly noticed as she walked towards the stair way. She stepped down the stairs ever so carefully, her bare feet slapping against the wood. She turned to walk down the hall to the front room, but stopped and turned to look into the lounge area. There was a tall blonde haired man sitting in front of the fire. But that wasn't sure if that was what drew attention because although she noticed him, she also noticed the girl who sat next to him, drinking from a cup of steaming tea.

It was the girl whose family they had saved from those men in black some days before. She quickly walked down the hall and entered the room. "Joo Rin!" The girl and man looked up at Shawana, and the man quickly stood, his eyes getting slightly wider than they should be normally. Shawana raised her eyebrow at him, then looked down at Joo Rin, and knelt in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you might have work for me Lady Sera.." Joo Rin sat up on her knees and bowed to Sera ever so slightly, setting her tea cup down beside her. "My family is in need of money. I have offered to go out and find a job."

Sera nodded and backed up a step so Joo Rin could stand up. "I have been in need of some female company lately. I suppose it would be fine for you to join us. Though your pay would be very small, as we don't have much money."

"Oh that's fine! I only need a little!" Joo Rin smiled joyfully and bowed once again to Sera, she then turned to the blonde man and grinned at him. "Wutarin, will you join us! You did say you were looking for someone. Maybe they can help."

The man, Wutarin, looked between the two, and then muttered mainly to himself. "I don't think I need to search any longer." He turned to look down at Joo Rin, and smiled ever so slightly. "Yes, I shall go as well, but I do not require pay."

"That's great!" Sera exclaimed happily. She enjoyed having so many people wanting to go with them. For some reason she was starting to get much more people friendly than she used to be. Back in Tokyo she hadn't been much of a socialite, but she felt like she could go partying any time. It almost made her laugh how happy she was that the blonde man and the girl were coming with them. "Do you two have a room to stay in?"

Wutarin nodded, his blonde hair falling even farther into his than it had already been. It hung long and straight almost to his waist. It surprised Sera how many men in this place had such long hair. Tatara, Tokaki, and Phiran also had long hair.

She saw a slight flash of light from underneath his hair, which she presumed to be a silver earring, but she dismissed without another thought. "Well, you two had best go up to bed soon. I know that I need plenty of rest, so I will go on up now. See you tomorrow. We shall leave in the morning as long as the snow has let up."

Sera bade them good night, and then walked back up to her and Tatara's shared room. "We have two more people who will travel with us, Tatara." Sera said as she entered the room. He looked up from the fire, which he had been staring into quite intently.

"I hope you haven't gone about inviting just anyone." He said this with an obviously amused tone. "We've got four extra mouths to feed now. If you invite anyone else, we may have to resort to cannibalism to get enough food." They both laughed after he spoke, though Sera more so than he.

"No, that's all. I think we can find enough food for us all. Besides, I'm sure at least a couple of them have their own ways of finding things to eat." She sat down on her bed and pulled her hair back into a low braid, tying the end with a long blue ribbon she had bought the same day as her book. "Well, I know at least I am tired, so I think I'll go to sleep now. Sweet dreams, Tatara." She smiled across the room at him, and then pulled the covers back.

Crawling into the cozy bed, she found herself exhausted. She pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes, listening closely to the sounds of wind outside the window.

­**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

The next morning came swiftly. Sera was woken by the sounds of Tatara moving about. She opened her eyes to a bright light and sat up, yawning and stretching her arms. The air was slightly chilly, because the fire had gone out during the night, but it felt oddly energizing to Sera as she got out of bed and started pulling on her extra clothes, socks, and shoes. She let her hair down, and then went to look out the window.

The snow had stopped falling, and the streets were pure white with the flakes from the previous day. The sun shined on it and made outside look like a winter wonderland of glorious brightness. She smiled and went about packing her things together. Tatara held the door open a little while later, and then both walked out, carrying their things. They sat down to eat a large breakfast with the others that were accompanying them. Chichiri and Joo Rin sat on either side of Sera at a very large table in the main room of the inn. They feasted on many delicious breakfast foods, and when they were done, they packed the things such as loaves of bread and fruit which would last until another meal on their trip, into the saddle bags of their horses.

Tatara sent Tokaki to buy another two horses from a man down the street, and then they set off with everyone on their own horse. Except Sera, who took turns riding with different seishi. Once sometime toward midday, she rode with Chichiri, holding his waist from behind. It felt oddly comfortable to sit there in the cold air with this older man, sort of like he was very close family. Or Santa Claus… Though she was sure only she would find that amusing if she chose to say it out loud.

Sera figured it was sometime around four in the afternoon when the snow suddenly started coming down again. She frowned at their bad luck as they had to stop and put up their shelter early. "I wish the blasted sky would stop pouring snow on us." Sera exclaimed as she got down from Phiran's horse, and stretched her legs.

"We all do." Tokaki sighed as he came grabbed the reigns of Phiran's horse. They were under the cover of seven or so very tall, very snow covered trees. They men were setting up a tall shelter to keep all of the horses in, with one open wall facing away from the wind. One of them went to work putting together a make shift fence to place in front of the opening, which they then tied to the shelter wall.

They would also be setting up a shelter for all of the humans as well. It would be slightly wider, but not as tall, and have a wall of cloth that could be taken down as needed. Two people would be keeping watched for three hours at a time during the night, but Sera didn't want to worry about that right then.

Sighing, she crossed her arms over her chest and walked over to where Joo Rin sat, getting out the pots and pans for cooking. Shuna had started a fire, and was slowly making it bigger. She had gone and collected as much dry fire wood as possible, mostly from underneath other piles of wood. She had managed to hack some drier branches off of the trees around them, and had found quite a few large chunks of wood, though it had taken quite a bit of digging through snow and mud.

"Need any help, Joo Rin?" Sera sat on a large stone that had been wiped off and reached over to take some dried vegetables from the leather, waterproof saddle bag that lay next to Joo Rin. The younger girl nodded, so Sera set about crumbling the vegetables into large chunks and setting them aside onto a plate, while Shuna filled a pot with snow and set it on the fire to boil. Once it was ready they placed some vegetables and some fresh meat that had been in a stone container with snow in the boiling water, and Shawana added some garlic and salt to it for flavoring. Soon dark was upon them, and they all sat about the fire waiting for the stew to finish cooking.

Within another hour, they were all feasting on a quite delicious, steaming stew, and they ate a little of the bread from that morning with it as well. They were all quite satisfied, though the meal was not as grand as it could have been, and soon all of them except for two retired into the large tent.

"Here, you can sleep next to me, Shuna." Sera lay her thick blankets out across the ground that had been cleared very thoroughly of the snow before the tent was put up. The fiery orange haired girl came and laid her blankets out next to Sera's and then lay down on the, cross her ankles and then putting her arms beneath her head comfortably.

"So, Shuna, how long have you been travelling with Chichiri?" Sera was very curious of the story between the young woman and the older monk.

"I have been with Chichiri since I was a very small child. My parents died of plague when I was six, and Chichiri took me in because he was my father's best friend, and had been for several years. My father was one of the Suzaku seishi.." Shuna sighed slightly and closed her eyes against the dim light that came from a small oil lamp at the front of the tent. Tatara and Wutarin were going to take the first three hour shift, so Tatara had lit the lamp for everyone else.

"Really? Wow. Did your father's ..you know, ability.. pass down to you?" Shuna opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Sera, before reaching into her robes and pulling out a large fan.

"Indeed. He left me this tessen. And.." She placed the tessen back, and then pulled up the sleeves of the three robes she wore on her right arm. There was a red mark on her arm. It glowed ever so slightly, and then Shuna pulled down the sleeves again. "I am also Tasuki, though not exactly reincarnated. I have a piece of my father's soul in me, of course, as his child, but I am a completely different person." She smiled slightly before turning away, leaving her back to Sera's view.

Sera sighed and looked away, towards the front of the tent, where Chichiri, Tokaki, Phiran, and Joo Rin all were dozing or in full slumber. She sighed and closed her eyes, wishing for sleep. After several minutes, she fell into a restful doze, but that was as much she could hope for. Precisely at the third hour, Sera sat up and quietly got up, pulling her shoes back on and walking out to the camp fire carefully. Chichiri also came out, and they sent the two, very sleepy men back in to rest.

Sera settled onto the boulder she had sat upon at dinner and rubbed her hands near the fire, warming them as thoroughly as she could. "Did you get any rest, Seraphina?" Chichiri asked as he settled another large stone a couple feet away to her left.

"Not really. I mainly dozed, but I'm sure I'll get some sleep after we're done here." She smiled at him and went about unbraiding her hair. She leaned over her knees and let the unbraided, slightly wavy, red hued hair hang over her shoulder. She looked in the fire for a moment, and then looked over to where Chichiri sat. He was staring out onto the road they would be continuing on the next morning. The flames of the fire hit his face and made his wrinkles profoundly noticeable, even in the dark of the night. The light of the flames also highlighted his nose and eye as well. Sera found it hard to look away, and could not do so until his gaze came to rest on her own face. She quickly turned her head, her hair flowing in the slight wind.

They sat in silence for quite a while longer, and simply looked around. Occasionally they would strike up conversation for a few minutes about random subjects, but they mainly watched the fire and the roads.

"I heard you speaking to Shuna earlier of her past… And it seemed to me as if you understood quite well what happened to her parents, though you didn't say anything about it. May I ask why?" Chichiri bent his head forward and let his long bangs droop down a ways, the gray in the hair shining in the fire light.

Sera was silent for a moment or two, looking between the fire and Chichiri, then she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "My own parents died, about three years ago. Along with them were my three siblings and my best friend's parents. I know very well the feeling of loss. I have to terms with it a little more now that I have something to fulfill my life with." Sera almost smiled. She came close, but only the corner of her mouth twitched.

Chichiri nodded and looked over into the fire, holding his hands out to warm them. "I also know the feeling of loss." He was silent for another moment or two. Sera watched the light of the flames flicker on his face as he looked away from her. "I lost my fiancé and my best friend when I was a young man. I have never felt the same. I came to terms with the loss when I was about 26 or 27 years old, be confronting them in spirit and talking, but I have still been lonely ever since."

Sera frowned, sad for this man she barely knew. She crossed her arms and hugged her knees, letting her chin rest on them as she watched him, still silent. He looked over at her and smiled oh so slightly. "It is alright Sera, I have been happier as of late. I think you have brought new spirit to my life." After he finished saying this, he went into a coughing fit. Sera jumped up and poured some hot water out of a kettle at the edge of the fire's embers into a small metal cup, and took it over to him. She patted his back until he finished coughing, and then let him drink the hot liquid.

"Are you sure that this cough is not hurting you? It should be settling down by now if what Shuna said is correct. She said that you started coughing a month ago. A chest cold might last that long in the cold weather, but it should not be as bad as this!" Sera took the cup from him after he finished the water, and squatted next to him, waiting for an answer from him.

He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand before clasping both hands together in his lap. He shook his head and sighed. "Shuna should learn not to talk about things she does not know of." Sera gave him a questioning look and he sighed again. "This is not a common chest cold that I have. I am sick. It **is** hurting my body. But I know full well. I have taken medicines for this sickness, but they do not always keep it at bay.. Now, don't fret, Sera, I shall be fine." He smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder.

Sera blinked a few times, and nodded, though she full well knew she would fret anyways. She wished she knew someone who could heal him fully, but none of her Seishi had the power of healing, or those she knew of anyway. Just as she was about to reply, she saw Tokaki and Phiran come through the tent opening. She stood and placed the cup next to the kettle, before helping Chichiri up.

She patted Tokaki's shoulder, then walked inside after the Suzaku seishi. She immediately went to her blanket and lay down. It took only moments for her to fall asleep, even with her mind rushing on and on.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Before they knew it, three weeks had passed, and the weather had become much worse. Sera spent as much of her time as she could spare caring for Chichiri. She tried to come up with a kind of tea, though she wasn't sure it was working too well. She found some dried mint plants in a small town they passed through, however, and soon turned it into a soothing drink for the older man.

They took most of their watches at night together, though they spent most of their time in silence. They spoke of their pasts mostly when they did talk. Sera also spent a lot of time with Shuna and she did find it interesting to talk to Wutarin about his life as well. She found him oddly fascinating. Probably because he was the only European looking person she had seen so far during her time in Sairou.

Finally, one day, they reached the edge of a small forest, only a few miles inside the border of Konan. They had a small celebration that night, and the next day, they went about exploring the snowy forest, looking for plants and such that they might pack for later use.

Sera walked through the trees on her own. She knew that the other would not be hard to find though, as the forest wasn't very large and they all knew which direction to go in order to return to camp. She looked about the trees and trudged through the foot deep snow. She passed by a steaming spring after a few minutes, and stopped to mark a few trees near it with some carvings, just in case the other girls or the men wished to bathe later in the day.

She walked a little farther east, down a small path, but stopped when she thought she heard another person nearby. She looked around and took a few more steps, in search of the maker of the sound. "Ah!" She spotted someone walking towards her from the direction she was travelling. It was a man, with dark purple hued hair, and large coral colored eyes. "You!" She exclaimed. It was then that the figure noticed Sera.

It was the man she had seen in her vision several weeks ago. The vision where she had seen Shawana disappear. He looked up and walked a bit closer. As he did, he brought his hands readily to his side in a bent position, as if in defense.

"Wait! I am a friend!" Sera said as they came closer to each other. "You know my best friend. Shawana!" As she said the name, the man stopped and stared at her, his hands falling to his sides. They were both silent for a moment then she could almost see a light bulb flash about his head.

"Sera..phina?" The man said this carefully, making sure he pronounced it correctly. "You are Seraphina?" Sera nodded and came a bit closer, so there were only feet apart.

"I am! Please! Take me to Shawana. I want to see her as soon as possible!" Sera was so happy for her good luck, she could almost leap for joy.

"I wish.. I wish I could.. Seraphina.." He looked down and brought a hand up to his head, covering his eyes, a look of distress about him. "But she disappeared. Three weeks ago, in this very forest."

Sera stared in disbelief. She didn't believe it. Her vision was true? How could it be! Shawana had to be here! That was the main reason she had travelled so far! "..How? And why?"

"We don't know! She wished to bathe in the hot spring the first night we camped here in the forest, and I let her stay there alone. I went to fetch her after an hour and she was gone. We found footsteps, but it was snowing so they were completely covered before we could find where they led to. I am so sorry. Sorry for you, and sorry for my own stupidity. I should never have let her stay by herself. I'm so idiotic!" By the time he finished he was yelling, and though his head was bent away from view, Sera could see a few tear drops fall from his face.

"..You truly care for my friend.. I can see that… I already knew.. Somehow, that she was gone.." Sera sighed and looked away from the man. He made a questioning noise and she looked over to see him watching her, a single tear drop lingering on his beautiful face. "I saw a vision of her disappearing. I'm guessing I saw it the same day it happened.. For it was three weeks ago as well. May I ask what your name is?"

"Nuriko. Of the Suzaku seishi." The man answered almost mechanically, as if he had said it several times, and was now quite used to it. "You say you saw a vision. Do you know where she went?"

"She was enveloped by a bright red light and then was gone. That was all I saw. It was quite similar to the light that first brought her here, I am guessing. The same thing happened to me when I came into this world. I was enveloped by a bright white light.. and then I was here." She watched the man named Nuriko think this over, and then run a hand through his hair annoyedly.

"She must have returned to your world. I don't know why, but she must have.." Nuriko looked as if he was fighting a battle inside his mind, so Sera walkover and patted him on the shoulder.

"It is alright. We will come down to the bottom of this. Do you have others with you?"

"Yes, there is a small camp of others at the east side of the forest. We have stayed behind while the others went back to the nearest town to buy supplies. It is just I and three others."

"Wonderful, I will go back and tell the others in my camp. You may come with me if you like. We will move our campground to where yours is, so we can talk more. " Sera smiled slightly and took Nuriko's arm in her own. "What do you say? Would you go with me?"

Nuriko waited a moment, and then nodded and they started walking, Sera leading the way. It was only a half hour walk to the camp ground, and the others had already gathered back. Sera looked around and saw that a couple of them must be in the tent or something, because she could hear them talking but she couldn't see them.

"Hey guys!" Sera called into the camp, from the edge of the clearing where she and Nuriko stood. "We need to move the camp." All of the eyes there turned to them, and she heard coughing as Chichiri and Shuna came out of the tent. There was silence for a moment, then they all started asking questions at once. Sera would have answered them, but instead she was watching Chichiri cough. She jogged across to where he stood and patted his back. When the fit was over, Chichiri stared over at the purple haired man.

"Nuriko!" He exclaimed with a raspy voice. The man whom he called simply stared at him in interest, trying to remember why he recognized the old man. "Nuriko of the Suzaku seishi! Y..You came back from the dead?" He was getting louder as he spoke, and he suddenly walked over to where Nuriko stood. Shuna followed, though she stayed farther back. Tatara also walked over, and Sera ran to Nuriko's side. "No, it can't be. You must be.. A new..?"

Sera found it odd that Chichiri couldn't seem to finish his sentences. She backed up when he suddenly reached out and hugged the other Suzaku seishi though. "My old friend has been reborn!" Nuriko didn't react for a moment, but then carefully pushed the older man off of himself.

"That is no way to act young man! I am one of your dearest friends! I am Chichiri of the Suzaku seishi! The only living member of the seven of the past." It was a very grand announcement, Sera noticed, but he had a reason to be so grand about it. He was obviously excited to meet the reincarnation of someone he had been close to in the past. "Why does one of the other seishi stand here in this forlorn forest?"

Nuriko tried to say something but then he suddenly closed his eyes for a couple of minutes. The others in the small crowd of people stared in silence as well. He opened his eyes and with new emotion he looked at Chichiri. "Chiri.. I remember you now.. You are so old!" He laughed slightly and clasped Chichiri's shoulder. "You old fox face! Where's your mask?" They both laughed at this, while the others simply watched.

"I have long shed that mask. I lived my life without it after our Miko was here for the last time. Now, answer my question! Why are you here?"

"I am here with the other seishi of the Suzaku no Miko! They are on the other side of this forest, waiting for me to return. I was simply out walking. Our Miko has disappeared, and Sera and I believe she has gone back to her world." Nuriko grasped Chichiri's arm and they walked away towards the tent, Shuna following close behind. When they stopped at the tent entrance, Nuriko patted Shuna's shoulder as if he remembered her as well, though of course it must be odd to him to remember her father as her predecessor.

Sera walked over to Tatara and started helping them pack up their things. She explained to him the plan to move their things over to where Nuriko's camp was on the other side of the forest. The trees had blocked them from most of the harsh snow so far, so she figured they would be fine moving everything over before mid afternoon.

She was right in her planning, for when everyone started helping, they had everything packed up and on the horses, and they were all fed before midday. Nuriko then guided them through the trees. It took about two hours because the horses were tired of many weeks of journeying, as were the rest of them of course, not just the horses. When they got to the camp ground, Chichiri took the chance to greet everyone and give lots of hugs.

Sera felt a little out of place with these other people that she didn't know very well, but she was over it by the time evening fell. She helped Shuna and Joo Rin cook a large meal with the help of a woman named Chun, and they all feasted on quite satisfying food that evening. Much conversing ensued, and they all stayed up much later than they should have.

By the time Sera went to bed, now in a tent of only woman, because the men from that camp had moved into the larger tent that Sera and company had brought, she was thoroughly exhausted and had no trouble falling asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** There you go! I hope you like it! I spent all day writing, because of this story, and didn't get anything done. XD But oh well. I enjoyed writing it. I know the whole 'Chichiri and others getting all huggy' was pretty cheesy, but oh well. I figure he probably missed his ol' buddies.

I'll try and get another chapter up soon, but no promises!

Review if you liked it!


	13. Not long at all

**A/N:** Sorry for taking so long. Life decided to blow up, and be incredibly busy for the last few months, but I'm hoping to get this chapter, and possibly one or two more up before 2010. I know I said I was going to try and get this entire story done by the end of this year, but I'm sad to say that will be impossible.. I guess that comes with being a Junior in Highschool, and having a lot of family who are in the midst of various crises.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Truthfully, I have no idea what's it's going to be like, because I don't have many ideas for this chapter at the moment, but anyways, I'ma stop rambling on now, and start writing!

* * *

I do not own any of the original characters.

However, I do own in this story:

The characters based on those from the original story:

Nuriko, Tatara, Boushin, Tamahome, Tokaki, Do Chun, Mitsukake, Shuna, and many more to come.

The characters and names:

Shawana, Seraphina, Phiran, The evil lady Nu'Aia, Liuan, Joo Rin, Wutarin, and many more to come.

On to the story!

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13!**

_The red light. _

_It's so... powerful. _

_...So warm. I don't want to go. _

…_.No!._

…_.Don't leave me..._

The piercing red light disappeared, leaving Shawana in the midst of a big white expanse. Painfully, she opened her eyes painfully, against the bright morning light, and looked around, her hand over her eyes. All she could see for miles in every direction were hills and snow, and trees and snow, and more snow.

She carefully sat up, groaning at the pain in her back. Somehow, her bag full of books had managed to end up underneath her after she returned, rather than in her hand. The cold wind and snow blew against her as she sat up, and then got to her feet as steadily as she could. Shivering at the cold that had already penetrated the layers of cloth wrapped around her head and neck, she turned towards the East, wondering where she was.

"Why don't I recognize the landscape?" She wondered briefly, remembering that the Konan landscape had been less hilly, and more forest like than anything else. It probably meant that she was either in an area of Konan she hadn't been to, or she was in one of the three neighboring countries...

_'Oh well, might as well get walking in some direction and try to find a town.' She sighed to herself, huddling her bags against her body as she began walking eastwards._

_Pale blue eyes stared into the crystal goblet, held by white, almost porcelain like hands. She watched as the priestess was shown as the bright red light disappeared. Her eyes came back to the present. The woman stood and walked across the room, her hair swinging in the cold room, behind her. As she reached the painting, she stood in place, closed her eyes, and became as still as a statue for a few moments. Her eyes then snapped open, and then went to talk to her master._

"_Milord, the one whom you have been waiting for is weakening sufficiently. It should be only a few more days until you may have a strengthening soul." Nu'aia bowed low in front of the white beast god, Kiran, after entering the hidden room. "And the Suzaku no Miko has reappeared. I have already sent two of your best men to retrieve her."_

"_Very good, Nu'aia. You have done well. Though who knows if it will follow through. Your mistakes have already cost me several men in the past." Kiran growled as he morphed from beast to human. He placed his hands on his hips and smiled cruelly at her naked form. "Though you have made up for it quite well in the last few days. Had I known you were so strong I would have taken your soul's power long ago." _

"_Of course, Master. Had __**I**__ known, I would have given it to you before." Nu'aia despised the words that were coming from her mouth. The small part in the back of her head that was sane told her to wring his neck here and now, but she would never be able to go through with it, for her body was possessed by a willing servant of Kiran, who would do anything for him. _

_Every time the beast god took a part of her soul, the part of her at the back of her mind faded a little more. She wished it wasn't so, for it meant that one day she would be helpless, and he would get rid of her. She dreaded every day that he asked for a little more of her soul. If she were to leave him, it would come back, slowly but surely, she knew, but if she left him now, she would be dead within hours.._

"_You have done well enough for now. I am feeling drained today, love. Come to me." He held out his pale hand. She watched as he grew hard in want of her, and though she tried to stop, yelling and screaming in her mind, her other self grew excited and walked to the beast god._

Shawana sighed and stopped to give her legs a rest as she reach a snow covered road. She figured that she had already covered about two miles of wilderness, and now she had finally come across a road. She was happy that she had gotten that far, but she was already feeling tired and frozen.

"Oh well. Buck up, and get goin girl." She told herself and started walking down the road again. Soon she came past an outcropping of rock next to a tall hill, a few trees spattered here and there around where she was. She looked around, and then headed on through, unsuspecting of the partially hidden areas of land around her.

All of the sudden, she saw two men, dressed in black traveling clothes, walking up the road in her direction. She looked around to see if she could find anywhere to hide before they noticed her, but then saw that it would be futile because they were already watching her. She hugged her bags closer and slowed her pace, as they walked closer, soon they were coming upon her, so she stopped.

"Hello, sirs. May I ask if there is a town nearby?" She asked this as they came to a stop in front of her. They were both tall and muscular, but they looked like fairly normal people other than that. "I am supposed to be meeting someone tomorrow and they told me to take this road.. But I do not know to where it goes.."

One of the men raised his eyebrow and they both stepped closer. "Meeting someone tomorrow eh? Fat chance of that, really. It's at least a three day ride on horse back to the nearest town in that direction. Me and my friend here have been walking for easily twice that."

Shawana didn't believe a word of the man's speech. He looked like he had hardly been walking an hour. For one, he didn't look very cold at all, and they were both wearing far less layers of clothing than herself. "Oh.. Really. Well, then I suppose I should get going on my way. It will take far longer than I imagined. Thank you very much."

Just like that, as she started to walk past them, the one who had not spoken before grabbed her arm. "Ma'am, it's best you stay with company. It's rather dangerous out here at night. You could die of the cold. I think you should come with us back to the nearest town, and then go to your friend on horse or wagon another day."

Shawana tried to pry her arms loose, but it wasn't working. "It's fine, really. I have plenty of things to help me make it through the night." She still couldn't get her arm out of the man's hand and started to panic.

They both suddenly loomed over her, smug grins on their faces, and they both grabbed her shoulder. "Really, Suzaku no Miko. We insist you come with us. Our mistress wishes to meet you."

A large blast of wind suddenly hit all three of them, causing the men to loosen their grips, and Shawana took the chance to rip her arm from the men's hands. She immediately started running away from them, in the direction they hadn't wanted her to go, and once she was far enough away, she looked back, and saw them.. On the ground. In various pieces.

"Oh my god..." She turned and vomited right there, giving up the content of her last couple of meals. Her hand went upwards, to wipe away the spittle that had gotten on her lips, but before her gloved hand reached her mouth, someone wiped her mouth with a black handkerchief.

Looking up, she saw a kindly look woman, bundled in almost as many clothes as herself. Two long, dirty blonde braids fell from beneath a wide white hood. The woman was wearing all white, and almost disappeared into the background, as everything around was white.

"Are you well, Priestess?" The woman's voice was very soothing, but young sound. Shawana thought that the woman sounded kind of like a therapist she had once gone to see with her mother when she was very young. Shawana frowned and stood up straight, trying not to feel nauseous from the taste of vomit still in her mouth. "Those men were soldiers sent by the great enemy. They were to take you back to his layer."

"Please just forget about them, Priestess." Another voice came from Shawana's other side, and she looked to see another woman, who looked just the same as the first, except her hair was a chocolate brown and her eyes were blue, where as the first had silver eyes. "It is best that we get a move on. Others will be coming, and we need to get to Konan by tomorrow evening."

"Wait.. Are you two.. Seishi, by any chance? I mean.. You can't be mine, because you most certainly do not fit the descriptions of my last two..." Shawana stopped talking at the smile that appeared on each of the womens' faces. Neither of them answered, but she saw a flash of white light come from underneath each of their robe sleeves. One from the left sleeve, and the other from the right, and suddenly they were no longer standing in the snow.

Shawana shrieked as she fell a few feet out of the air onto a pile of snow at the outskirts of a small town, her bags underneath her, painfully jabbing her in various places of her stomach. She carefully stood up, and grabbed her bags, looking around to see both women standing next to her, looking perfectly normal, like he fall hadn't done them a bit of damage. She frowned, and noticed that the one with the white hood and blonde hair looked rather more tired than she had a few moment before.

"What just happened!?" She walked closer to the woman, attempting to stare the answer out of her. She wasn't sure if she should trust the two or not..

"We traveled seven miles east." The one with dark hair said simply, before they both turned to walk into the town.

"Wait for me!" Shawana exclaimed as she trudged through the snow, lugging her things with her as she chased after them into the town. "Can I know your names? You already know who I am?" She asked this as she caught up to them. The one with dark hair was subtly helping the other stay upright, for the pale haired one looked like she was about to fall asleep any minute.

"Yes, I suppose it is fair that you know who we are. My name is Won Bo Rin, and this is my sister Su Ahno." The dark haired one answered simply, then began walking Su Ahno towards a large building at the end of the street. "We shall stay here over night, then tomorrow, we are moving east. Eiyou is our destination. And we hope to be there within the week."

Shawana wondered how they would possibly make it all the way back to Eiyou in just a week, when it had taken her party weeks to get even close to the border of Sairou, but she shook it out of her mind, and followed the twin sisters into the inn. The inn keeper eyed her bags suspiciously, but he didn't pay much attention as the women payed for his best room, and they tipped generously.

_The wind blew through the meadow oh so solemnly. She stood alone in the meadow, her long braids flowing in the wind. A small hand reached out towards the heaven, and a tear escaped her grey blue eye, sliding down her pale face to fall from her chin to the green grass._

"What the heck.." Shawana exclaimed under her breath, letting her head hang as she stood at the top of the stairs. "Who.. was that.." She whispered to herself, before starting at the sound of someone clearing their throat quite loudly.

"Care to move on any time soon?" One of the sisters asked from behind, and Shawana quickly stepped out of the way, then followed the other sister down the hall to the room they had just paid for. She hugged her bags closer and then went into the large room. It had two beds, comfortable furnishings and a large fireplace. Perfect for a good night's rest.

Except, that was exactly what Shawana did not get that night. She tossed and turned without falling asleep for a few hours, then the nightmares came.

"_Don't act like that. I am not someone you can hug so comfortably." Nuriko glared at her and turned to walk away. "And don't call my name like you are my lover or something, because I assure you that you are not." He started walking down the path casually, not even turning to make sure she was following._

"_But…What about that day!? That kiss we shared! What about that? I thought that meant something to you!" _

"_That? That was nothing. I was simply giving in to my lust for you, Shawana. You should be lucky I did not go farther. I already have a woman waiting for me in the capital. You mean nothing to me." _

In real life the sleeping form that was the Suzaku no Miko shook under her twisted up bed covers, and tears fell from her shut eyes. As the Nuriko in her dream walked away, she starting the scream, and a cold sweat covered her body. The two sisters were already awake and sitting at her bed side. Bo Rin had her hand on Shawana's forehead, but even her power of healing was not breaking the deep sleep that Shawana was in.

_Ocean blue eyes stared at her from a beautiful European face, painful, full of agony. The woman had long golden hair that hone like the stars, and a full, rose bud mouth. Jewelry of royal quality adorned the woman's body, as well as a brightly colored gown of fine quality._

_Even as she watched the woman standing in a garden at early Spring, with frozen dew around her, sparkling in the light, the woman changed. The woman was crying, and she threw her long slender hands up over her eyes. The healthy coloring of her skin began to fade, starting at her left hand, and soon her hand was white as snow. The fading spread down her left arm, changing even the color of the robes to a pale, silvery tone, and soon her entire body was white. Her golden hair, white, her beautiful robes, gray._

_Shawana was scared to even look at the woman, for as she did, the jewelry that she had already watched fade turned to charcoal black, and started spreading over the woman's body, enveloping her. "Help me!" She heard as the woman's body was almost completely covered in the black metal. The white hands came down and she just barely saw the ice blue eyes that were uncovered. "Please help me." And the the entire scene faded._

_Shawana was left standing in darkness. There was no light, no sound, no feeling. She was simply a presence in a place where nothing existed. _

_Suddenly she was in a bedroom, far away from the first scene. She knew that she was far away, but she didn't know how. She turned to see a familiar indigo haired man, facing her. Coral eyes sparkled in the fire light. _

_As she watched, a woman walked in to the room in a traditional red wedding gown. The woman was dark skinned, with black hair and brown eyes, and was quite beautiful. Nuriko and the woman walked to each other, and they kissed. Soon they had shed their clothing and Nuriko lay the woman on the bed, still kissing her. Shawana willed herself to wake up, and screamed into the dream._

_The scene tore into shreds and she awoke._

"There there, priestess. All is well." Su Ahno soothed Shawana as she sat up, her red hair awry and hanging damp from sweat around her face. Tears still streamed down her face, and she couldn't stop it. Nor did she want to. She simply cried out what she was pretty sure was every ounce of water in her body. She felt small and weak after the tears stopped coming, and she curled up, leaning against Bo Rin, who set her hand once more on Shawana's forehead.

She didn't even care as she felt herself go to sleep once more. This time without dreams. Her thoughts simply stopped, and everything was gone from her cares.

The nightmares continued every night that Bo Rin didn't put Shawana into a dreamless sleep. There were four more such nights in the week that it took for them to reach Eiyou. It only took a week, because at the end of each day, Su Ahno would send them another several miles in their direction. At the end of night three, though, the nightmares were more meaningful because they had reached the forest which she had originally run away from.

The had hoped to find her party still there, but when they had reached the camp, it had shown signs of the party packing up and leaving about two days before.

Shawana had of course had a mental break down when they had traveled through the forest to get to the campground, because they had gone by the place that Nuriko had broken up with her, but she had resigned herself to the fact that he had done so, so the nightmares that night weren't quite as bad as the first night's.

She was getting used to them when they had reached the closest city to Eiyou, and that night she slept fairly peacefully. Even as she slept though, a sense of sadness came over her, and she woke up quite solemn and sad, in mind, and weighed down in body.

* * *

They had left the camp the day after they had joined the Seishi of Suzaku, and every day since then, Chichiri's sickness had worsened. He was slowly dying from it, causing the whole party to become fairly depressed, but determined to get back to the capital. They had worked the horses almost to death, riding fast in the slippery snow, all the way to Eiyou. They took few days to get there, and Sera rode with Chichiri the entire way. She held the reigns, and provided warmth for him. They spoke every now and then, and She let tears flow down her face freely, as there was no chance of him seeing, as she was behind him.

Sera felt like she had strengthened since she had come into this land. She knew she was going to lose this man with whom she had bonded, and she knew it would be soon. She wondered what Shawana would think of the fact that her best friend had fallen in love with a man twice her age. This would normally have caused her to laugh to herself, but she was quite serious about it.

* * *

Sera felt his hand clench around her own and she awoke from her dreams. It was the wee hours of the morning after they had reached Eiyou. They were in the palace, and all of the Seishi were gathered in the bed chamber with them.

She sat up quickly and brushed back the locks of deep red hair from her eyes with her free hand. Chichiri was smiling up at her, his hand grasping hers weakly. She smiled back sadly, and placed her other hand over his, warming the frail man's body as best she could.

She couldn't hold back her tears as he started coughing up a storm, his face sweating profusely as he fought the fever with all he had. She knew already that the handsome face of this man would never again have the chance to look at her like it had the day weeks ago over the camp fire, that first night they had been on watch together. That had been the day, she knew, that she had fallen in love with him. She had just been slow to realize the fact.

"Sera.." Chichiri said quietly after the coughing came to a stop. She looked into his eyes, through her tears, and her train of though came to a stop. "Don't be too sad... It won't be long....At all..." He coughed again, and his body shook violently.

The others in the room all moved to stand along the sides, and Sera leaned forward. "But, Shawana hasn't even shown up. You can't go... You just ca-"

"Shh now, love." He moved his hand up from her hand to her cheek and he gave her a look full of what could only be described as tender love, and then his hand dropped to the bed once more. He closed his eyes and let out his last breath slowly.

"No! Don't! Don't go! You can't just leave me alone... You can't be like everyone else in my life!" Sera flung herself over the unmoving body, sobbing and clinging to the bed covers that covered him.

"Sera.. He's already gone..." Shuna said quietly, her own tears flowing down her cheeks. She lifted Sera's arms gently from the bed, and pulled her back into sitting position. "You should come away from him.."

"I won't! I'm not moving from this spot unless I have a valid reason.." Sera shouted at Shuna, and everyone else in the room. She turned back to Chichiri watched his still body quietly. She leaned forward and kissed his still warm cheek, and then closed her eyes, resting her head against his chest. She listened to the sounds of the others crying and murmuring amongst themselves. The door opened and closed several times, and she knew people were leaving. The murmuring continued for a moment, then abruptly stopped.

Sera opened her eyes and gasped.

A small globe of red light hung in mid air above Chichiri's head. It flashed red light out at her once, then moved through the air and over to the door. Sera jumped up, and ran across the room, throwing the door open. The light moved down the halls and out of the palace. The guards and servants, and all others watched as Sera followed the light through the early morning, pale light, and out of the palace court yard. Her body was cold but she didn't even realize it as she followed the light.

She walked through the snow and wind, and followed the light down several side streets. She heard foot steps behind her, and guessed that some of others were following her. "Where are you taking me?" She asked the light loudly. Of course it didn't answer, and simply kept floating along side streets, until it stopped in front of a small house. It didn't wait this time and simply passed through the door.

Sera opened the door, and followed it. There was no one that she could see in the home, but she saw a red glow coming from a short hallway to her left. She stopped in front of the open doorway at the end of the hall and watched what she saw there. Her eyes were still letting out tears, she realized and she quickly reached up to wipe them away, though she didn't take her eyes away from the sight in front of her.

A young man, her age, or maybe a little older, was writhing in the bed on the other side of the room. His tousled pale brown hair was all in a messy pony tail, except for the bangs that whisped across his right eye. He looked up at her as she walked over to the bed, and she saw his reddish colored eyes. He was quite handsome, but what she was looking at was not his features. The red globe was hovering above his face, causing the room to glow with a strong red light.

Even as she watched the man became still, watching the light, even though he was obviously in some pain. He looked very sick. Soon his eyes glazed over, and he no longer looked at anything. Sera felt his neck for a pulse. It was still there. He seemed to have gone into a vegetative state of some sort.

The red globe moved down and slowly disappeared into the man's body. It was like someone had hit him with the paddles they use to give CPR in hospitals. His body jumped, and then his eyes unglazed. He blinked and looked up at her. She held her breath and watched as he blinked a few more times, and then sat up. She took a step back, but he reached out and grabbed her hand.

She simply stared as he pulled her hand to rest against his chest. She felt his heart beating, ever so quickly. She looked from her hand on his bare chest, to his eyes.

He smiled, and she saw that look in his eyes.

The one of tender, passionate love, that she had seen only a little while before, for what she had thought was the last time.

"Seraphina.. I wasn't long.. was I?" He pulled back his bed covers and stood. This man was a lot taller than his past body. She barely reached his shoulder. His body was very fit, and it all added to the growing feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Sera smiled and laughed, her tears flowing again, but for a different reason than before. "Not at all." She flung her arms around his shoulders and jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist. "And I'm not waiting any longer." She said and he steadied himself from the sudden impact. He smiled at her, knowing her meaning, and met her lips with his own.

Sera felt his arms wrap around her, holding her in place as he kissed her passionately. She slipped her fingers through his long, soft hair, causing his tie to fall out, and his hair to fall loosely down around their face. She gently tugged on his lips with her own, and ran her fingers through his hair, fully in the mood of the moment.

She brought the kiss to a slow pace and opened her eyes, looking straight into the two red ones that glistened in the morning light from the window. He leaned down and dropped her onto the bed, crawling over her, so he could kiss her again.

"Mmhhmm.." Sera started and her gaze was drawn to the doorway at the sound. She pulled her lips from Chichiri's new body's lips, and gasped. "I hope I'm not interrupting.."

"Shawana!" She exclaimed, sitting up and moving as Chichiri climbed off of her to sit on the bed beside her. She jumped off the bed and ran over to the door, flinging her arms around her best friend. "Where have you been!?"

"Well..." Shawana started and then looked around at those who had joined them in the hall. Shuna, Tamahome, Mitsukake, Boushin, Chun, Tatara, Phiran, Tokaki, Wutarin, and ...Nuriko. She quickly looked away from the last, though she saw his face was very full of emotion, and turned back to Sera, who had let go of her and backed up. "It's a long story. How about breakfast first?"

A/N:

There you are!

I hope you all liked this chapter. That last scene has been bouncing around in my mind since I first started writing this story four years ago, so I hope it was to all of your liking.

I'm very inspired for the next chapter, now that I've planned about it while writing this chapter today, and it should be up soon. If it isn't, I'll be pretty angry about it myself.

You all are welcome to remind me to write in reviews if I start to take a long time to write the next one.

Sorry about any and all grammatical, spelling, and punctuational errors you may or may not find. I tried to find them all, but I'm sure there are more.

Anyways, review if you liked it! Review if you have questions! Or just review because you can.

~ShawanaD


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